Book One: Rise of the Runelords
by ForAllThatIsGoodInThisWorld
Summary: Book One of the Stories and Legends of the Inner Sea. It all started with a clap of thunder and the shrieks of goblins. It all started in a small coastal town on the frontier. It all started with frayed and broken threads that, once tied together, would become a rope that will hold the fate of many. The Sins return. The Runelords will rise. Rated M for violence and language
1. Chapter One: Severine

**A/N: Edit June 25th, 2017**

 _Chapter one_

 _Severine_

Sandpoint.

A quant little town just on the Varisian coast. Home to just over 1,000 people. What in the name of the gods was my mother thinking sending me to such a backwater town? "Find my father" my ass. If there's a dude here that's got horns, a freaking tail, and a pair of fucked up looking wings, I'm sure I would have found him after like day four. It's been almost a month. You'd think a bigass festival in the honor of some deity (that I know but don't really care about) would make it easier right? Tons of people all gathered in one spot, two horns, a tail, and two crumpled wings would be easy to spot.

I might as well be trying to find my shadow in complete darkness.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to get the blood back to my wings. Mother recommended sewing them to my back when I was in public. It would be great advice if it wasn't so damn painful. Now that I'm complaining about how hiding shit is stupid, my tail is obviously there, I mean who ties something that looks like rope around their waist underneath a set of leather armor? And sawing down my horns every morning is getting really fucking annoying. One of these days I'm going to say screw it and let them go wild. See the looks on everyone's faces as they run and scream in terror. Oh gods that would be amazing!

I really didn't care what the festival was about (something about a goddess, swallowtails, and a chapel or some shit), but I was kinda inclined to join in on some of the less...kiddy games. Tug of War was a stupid game played by meat heads trying to impress a date, same with the weight lifting. The balance beams however were quite interesting. The event itself was quite boring, although the duo I saw when watching it were...interesting.

Standing in front of the platform to the large wooden beam stretching down all of the road (Tower street or something) was a man of larger height, his musculature further emphasised by the very heavy looking armor he bore. At his hip was a large sword (A bastard sword if I guessed correctly) and on his back was an absurdly tall shield. Standing - leaning more like - next to him was a three foot tall halfling (I would have assumed child if he didn't have a half full bottle of ale in one hand and five empty ones in the other). He had a rapier strung on his belt (I could probably use it as a tooth pick), and was wearing a garish set of armor that would probably fit quite well in a circus. I double taked the first time I saw them, they made for a very interesting sight. The halfling said something to the man, who looked back at him in disbelief, curiosity took over and I made my way through the crowd, closer to them, to better hear their conversation.

"-no way in hell I'm doing that" The larger man stated simply.

"Oh come on Daerion! It's just one little wooden beam, you can walk it no problem." The Halfling poked the larger man's greaves several times

"Need I remind you that I'm nearly ten times your weight?"

"So? What's the worst that could happen?"

"I could break the beam in half."

"Your point?"

"My point is I'm going to throw you at the beam and break it with your face if you don't shut up."

I couldn't hold back the laughter, so I turned and walked farther into the crowd so as not to arouse their suspicion. I made my way out of the area and into one of the smaller alleyways, silently chuckling to myself. As I made my way through town, I passed several food stands (and helped myself to several handfuls of free goodies), one of which had an arguing pair of very tall elves, I caught a couple of words, something about a language, sneaky sneaky, and a sweetroll? I really didn't care. Although I was quite shocked when a large flower bud burst out of the ground and split in half, revealing a red, fleshy mouth with hundreds of large white teeth covered in a film of green saliva. The pod wiggled a bit until it was completely out of the ground, roots and all, and sauntered over to the argueing elves, without any hesitation it scooped up the shorter of the two in its maw - much to the elf's displeasure - and began making it's way down the street. From the maps I had looked at of the town, the only things that way were stores specializing in herbology and plant care. The remaining elf look quite confused before shrugging and following the large plant creature.

That was probably the highlight of my day.

I continued to walk through town, just taking in the sights of the final day of the festival that I really didn't give two shits about. I figured that today could be a day where I just wandered about, not really having a plan. Just a lazy day you know?

Apparently something out there went "fuck that" to that idea.

Before lunch time, everyone gathered into the courtyard (if you can even call it that) in front of the newly built cathedral. Picnic tables had been set up everywhere, and a large podium was placed right in front of the building. A rather short red haired woman stepped up to the podium and smiled quite affectionately out at the very large group of citizens and festival attendees. Judging from her rather well made clothing (for a small town at least) and the way she held herself, I assumed this was the mayor.

"I thank you one and all for attending the Swallowtail Festival," she began, "for those of you who don't know, I am Kendra Deverin, mayor of this fine town"-fucking called it-"and I would like to say that I am quite pleased at today's turnout. Even Larz lifted his bloodshot eyes from his precious tannery to attend today." The crowd burst into applause and laughter, while the aforementioned workaholic grunted and shook his head, "I just want to thank you all once again for attending and I hope you continue to enjoy the remainder of the festival." With that she stepped off the podium to the roaring applause of the crowd.

Next to step up was a dour looking man. He was wearing a set of chainmail, I assumed he was a member of the city guard, possibly the captain? He must be if they were letting him give a speech to the crowd. He didn't have the hood of the mail pulled up over his head so it was easy so see his face. He had dark black hair, kept short that became a beard, ending in a goatee. Streaks of gray and white were the only signs of age on his face, but they were more likely to have come from stress than years. He held up a single hand, cutting the applause short.

"Right, right." He grumbled, "We've had a nice week of celebrations, but today's the real deal folks. Today we bust out the ale and the mead, and we talk with our friends and neighbors around the traditional bonfire. However that doesn't mean that tonight anything goes. Be safe around the bonfire, and if you know you can't handle five tankards of ale, stop at four."-my intuition told me a certain halfling was scoffing somewhere in the crowd-"I would ask for a moment of silence to remember those lost when the last cathedral burned down." Ah, so that's what happened. I awkwardly hung my head like those around me and pretending to pray for the poor bastards. May whatever stupid thing they worshiped have mercy on them

…

…

…

...All right this moment of silence shit got stupid two minutes ago. Hurry. The fuck. Up.

…

…

"Thank you. I hope the gods above hear your prayers and they are treated well in death, as they were in life." Fucking hell, finally! I'm all for dramatic silences for people who have died, but ten minutes is pushing it. Mr. soldier guy stepped off the podium and for the next several minutes, no one stepped up to the podium. The crowd fell into quite an awkward silence until a rather short man came running down the street, up the stairs and right to the podium.

"I hope everyone's having a good time?" He began without preamble to the cheering crowd, "What was that?" He said, cupping his ears as though he didn't hear them, "That's what i like to hear! The day's already half over, but we've got quite a lot of stuff left to do. Lunch is going to be served right after my speech, and a little while later Father Zantus will consecrate our new beloved cathedral. And may I just say how much hard work this community put forward to…" Blah, blah, blah. Something, something, something. Happy, happy, happy. "...but before I step off the stage, I am quite pleased to announce that our theater will soon be presenting the very famous play, 'The Harpy's Curse'! And our fine town will be hosting none other than the starring actress, Allishanda!" Who? I really stopped caring about the speeches. I walked out of the crowd and towards the long rows of tables set up for the banquet that was planned, and saw someone who I believe shared my same sentiments towards the whole festival.

They were sitting by themselves at one of the tables, leaning over it and most likely helping themselves to some of the many free samples throughout the town. They were wearing a dark black cloak, and had the hood pulled up over their head, disguising any of their features. Sensing a kindred spirit, I approached them, hoping to perhaps find someone who could help me find my father. As I approached I realized that this person was either a man, or a very, very bulky lady, choosing the more sensible option, I figured I could make him laugh and set us off on the right foot. I sat down right next to him.

"Well hello there tall, dark, and wearing-a-hood-so-I-can't-tell-if-you're-handsome, what are you doing sitting here all by yourself?" I was expecting a burst of laughter, perhaps a chuckle, dammit even a snort. What did I get? The douche grunted and scooted like an entire table away from me. "Well that was rude." I muttered under my breath. I scooted after him and decided to try the more casual route. "Perhaps you don't know how to make friends, here this is how." I stuck out my hand, "Hello! My name is Severine, pleased to meet you." Silence, "Now you take my hand and do the same." More silence, I grabbed and shook my own hand and in a mocking tone said; "Hi Severine! I'm very pleased to meet you. My name is tall, dark, mysterious, condescending asshole." I saw him tighten his knuckles. Good, that got a reaction out of him. He turned to face me, his hood angling just well enough that i could only see a nose.

"Go away." well that was anticlimactic. He had a very deep, very gravely voice, like someone who had a lot of flem in their throat, or perhaps hadn't drank much water that day.

"Alright asshole, I'm just trying to make friends here, you're the one who's being majorly rude."

"I didn't come here to make 'friends'. I came here to rest for a day, eat, and continue on my way."

"Well then it looks like we've got something in common, and when people have stuff in common, they become friends." He went silent for a moment before setting his hand, palm up on the table. In a single second his hand engulfed into flame

"I said go away, or I'll make you go away." He tightened his hand back into a fist, the fire disappearing in an instant.

"I would like to see you try." I stood up and drew my quarterstaff, "You want to play, then come and get some asswhoopin'." He stood up as well, and gave me a once over.

"I will not test you, nor do i want to 'play'. You are the one who is coming up with such foolish notions. Besides, there is no feasible way you could ever land even a glancing blow before I won." Oh now he's done it. He's trying to egg me on, get me to make a mistake, well that's not working douchebag

"You talk a lot of smack for someone who's unarmed."

"I am never unarmed." He reached into his cloak with his right hand, and summoned the fire again with his left. We stared at each other, assessing one another, and preparing to block should the other attack first. After a couple of minutes, he banished the fire in his hand and both his hands fell back to his sides. "I win."

"What the hell!? We haven't even moved." Is this guy for real?

"During our little staredown, I evaluated and planned out every possible action you could take in this entire battle, and there was not a single action that would end with your victory. Therefore I win." I looked at him in disbelief. I don't think I'll ever meet a bigger asshole

Somewhere else in Sandpoint, a very tall elf sneezed

I shook my head, "Whatever asshole, all I wanted was your damned name, but if that's too much for you then fine, I'll just take my awesomeness somewhere else." I holstered my quarterstaff, turned on my heel and walked away. Before I got into the alleyway nearby, I swore I heard the bastard say something.

"Vex." I turned my head to look at him

"Did you say something?" He simply grunted and sat back on the picnic table, going back to whatever meal I had interrupted.

* * *

"Gods dammit! What the hell was that guy's problem!?" I punched the wall of the alleyway I had entered. I walked quite a ways away just to make sure no one would come across me while I vented my anger. "How I would have wished to sneak up on him and choke him to death with my tail! 'No way I could win' my ass. He was scared that's what happened." I punched the wall again, "Well I'll fucking show him." I started making my way back to the cathedral, hand toying with the quarterstaff I planned to use to beat the shit out of an asshole. I made it back to the tables to find them completely filled with people. If the dude was anywhere in there, I wasn't about to find him anytime soon, and I certainly wasn't going to brain him in front of a thousand people.

I leaned up against another alley, hoping to find the guy and corner him when he inevitably left, I was sure he would leave, especially if he's as huge of a loner and asshole as he seemed, and when he did I would be there to teach him a lesson. Oh I couldn't wait to hit him so hard he-

My thought's were cut off by a very loud clap of thunder, standing at the podium was a man in his late fifties, his beard filled with different shades of gray and black. He smiled warmly at the crowd, like a man seeing his children after a long time apart. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth and…

A woman screamed.

I didn't have a good angle of the courtyard, so all I heard was the scream and several people (including the man, halfling, and two elves from before) draw their weapons while everyone else fled in various directions. I drew my quarterstaff, preparing to charge in…

When I felt a sudden extreme pain. I've been injured by rocks and other people because of my horns and shit, and I'm a girl so I go through hell every month, but the pain I felt made all that seem like nothing. I looked down and saw a very crude weapon, practically just a slab of sharpened iron protruding from my abdomen. I thrust my quarterstaff behind me, and upon feeling it make contact with something, hauled it over my head, flinging whatever stabbed me to the ground in front of me.

Laying in front of my was a very small, green creature with piercing red eyes and sharp yellow teeth. I swung my staff down and crushed his head in with a single strike. Goblins. I took a step forward to help the people fighting in the courtyard, when the blade through my stomach decided to remind me it was there. I was faced with a dilemma. I could either keep the blade in my wound, thus slowing how long it will take for me to bleed to death, and help the people fighting, however, the pain I was feeling from it was sure to knock me unconscious and that would probably mean the death of me. My other option was to remove the blade and use my only healing spells to at least close it off, so as to not bleed all over the place (thus attracting more goblins) but I would still be bleeding internally, so if I didn't find help fast, I could die. I heard the sounds of more goblins coming from down the alley way, so I made a split decision. I reached around my back, grasped the hilt of the crude dagger and took a deep breath. This was gonna hurt like a bitch.

With a quick tug, the blade came clean out of the wound, and I immediately began to bleed profusely. I placed the palm of my hand on the exit wound and focused all my energy to that point of my body, a warm glow enveloped my hand and I felt the wound begin to close, after a couple of seconds I placed my hand on the entry wound and repeated the process. I was still bleeding internally (and was probably going to die in less than ten minutes if I didn't receive better healing) but at least I could actually move without the threat of passing out.

I needed a better healer, I needed a miracle, and I needed it before I bled to death on the inside. I did a quick scan of the battlefield, and figured my best chances of finding a healer were within the walls of the cathedral, so I drew my staff and bolted towards it.

* * *

You know how with most wounds you don't forget they're there? Like they constantly remind you; "Hey, hey! Look at me! I exist!" by hitting you with the pain stick repeatedly and without mercy? Internal bleeding isn't like that. In fact it's relatively painless. Sure you feel pain from all the organs that were pierced or otherwise damaged, but you kinda forget about the bleeding part. In fact if I wasn't a slightly medically trained professional (by slightly I mean I'm mostly self taught and have been teaching myself for about a year) I would probably have ignored the whole "quietly and slowly bleeding to death from the inside" thing and just went straight to kicking ass and taking names I can't pronounce. But since I had that medical training, I had the common sense to push on, ignore whatever goblins didn't throw themselves at me, and make my way to the church.

Once I made it to the doors and pounded on them with my fist, "Father!" I shouted, "Father let me in! I'm badly wounded and will most likely die if I do not receive medical attention! Please let me in!" There was silence for a little while, and I feared I had made a wrong call, and I was going to die because of it. My worries were banished however when I heard a shout from deep, wizened voice.

"The door is not barred child. Enter quickly, but make sure to close the door before any of those vile creatures get in." I pushed open the door and quickly closed it behind me. I took a step backwards and turned, only to almost hit my face against a glowing, scale like translucent barrier. "Quick! Bar the doors so I can drop the barrier." I turned on my heel again and walked over to one of the pegs on either side of the doors, I flipped it up and slid over one of the bars, which was basically an iron ringed half of a large walnut trunk. After sliding it all the way I flipped the peg down again, locking the bar in place. I then repeated the process with the other bar, having to stand on the tips of my toes to reach it. After locking it in place, I turned back to the man.

Standing in the center of the aisle was the same man who stood at the podium before the goblin attack. He was holding up a long staff, with a butterfly shaped crest at the top above his head, and expanding outwards 50 feet to the left and right, and 100 feet up to the ceiling. I read that spell in one of the various books I had used to teach myself how to be a cleric, and I knew for a fact that was one of the largest feats of protective magic one could perform, and he was smiling warmly at me as if it was nothing. He pulled the staff out of the barrier and held it next to him, the barrier faded almost instantly when he did.

"You seem to be unharmed my daughter, what is the problem?" He inquired, a look of both calm friendliness and suspicion in his eyes

"I was stabbed from behind by a goblin." I lifted the chain link shirt i was wearing slightly to show him the scar.

"I see. Did it go clean through?" I nodded "Did any of the blade break off into your skin?" I shook my head "Do you think it punctured any major organs or arteries?"

"No Father, but I am not a skilled enough healer to heal internal wounds as bad as I have, I was only able to remove the blade and heal the entry and exit wounds to ensure I could make it to a healer without passing out from the pain."

"While I believe that you would have been better off keeping the blade in the wound until you made it here, I understand and see the reason in your decision. Although it would have been much easier to heal had you kept the blade in."

"I'm sorry Father."

"Please my daughter, call me Abstalar, or at the very least Father Zantus. Father makes me feel old." He chuckled, "But look here, I am rambling like an old man while the young one within me tells me to act. Come closer so I may keep you alive." I approached him and he placed the palm of his hand on the exit wound, he tilted his head down and closed his eyes in concentration. "You said you were a healer yes?"

"Yes Father Zantus, I am a cleric in training."

"Then think of this as a career showcase. Get a glimpse of the healing power of a master cleric." With that his hand began to glow a radiant, heavenly light, so bright I had to look away from it to avoid getting one of those annoying squiggly lines in your vision from looking at the sun. Most healing spells fail to incorporate a painkiller so ironically, you feel more pain when you are healed than when you simply allow the wound to be and slowly die because of it. However I felt no pain from this spell, in fact I felt more of a tingling sensation and then the prickling of muscle, organs, veins and arteries knit themselves back together.

"It seems the blade nearly missed your spine. Goblins aren't known for their accuracy, but one gets lucky every once in awhile. Your wound was fairly easy to heal, and loathe as I am to say something as such, I require a favor to make up for this healing." It wasn't uncommon for most healers or clerics to require monetary compensation for their services, but it was an unspoken rule amongst clerics, of good deities, not to charge for life threatening or otherwise fatal wounds. However it wasn't unheard of to ask for a favor when the healing involved the neglection of another problem that could result in the death or fatal harm of others.

"Of course. You have but to name it and I shall see it done Father Zantus." The Father smiled warmly at me before gesturing at the door.

"You are no doubt an accomplished fighter to be able to make it here through a veritable army of goblins while bleeding internally, so I would assume you plan on re-entering the fray. However you can no doubt hear the goblins attempting to get inside the cathedral." Sure enough I could hear them scraping and banging at the door. "Thankfully these goblins are too smart for their own good, and have assumed this door is a pull door rather than a push. Should you open the doors and attempt to leave, many of the goblins would be far too distracted by you to try and get in, but if a single one gets in we could lose many wounded and several of the healthy."

"But what about that barrier you had set up when I arrived?"

"I lack the energy required to create a barrier like that more than twice per day, and should any of the goblins get in, I lack the energy to sustain the barrier for very long against the sheer number of them that would be throwing themselves at the shield. You can no doubt hold your own in a fight, so I beg a favor of you in recompense for the healing I have administered, push the goblins back away from the cathedral and close the doors behind you. Will you do this?" I looked at him for a moment.

"Of course" I walked over to the grand doorway and pulled both bars away from the doors, I then looked back at Father Zantus and nodded, signaling I was ready. He nodded back to me and raised his staff high into the air.

" _Obice. Protegat. Tueri!_ _"_ With a flash the scale like barrier blinked into existence, then flashed once more, become opaque. I pulled open one of the doors and charge forward with my quarterstaff at the ready. I was expecting four or five goblins waiting for me on the outside, unfortunately for me, twenty is not four or five. My eyes widened briefly before I slammed my left foot onto the ground in front of me and used the momentum of my charge to spin in a complete circle, my quarterstaff against my left side, my left hand held out slightly to the right of my right shoulder, glowing black and ready to unleash a nasty little spell I had prepared just for this occasion. Finishing the spin I thrust my palm right into a goblin's face " _Mali!"_ It screamed and ran in the other direction, a blackened handprint on its forehead. I quickly spun on my heel to bring my quarterstaff smashing down on the skull of another goblin, pivoting again to catch one in the side of the face.

Keep in mind that for me all this is happening in slow motion, (as is the tendency for people trained to fight) however it really took a matter of 2 seconds, and to anyone else I would have been a blur and suddenly there was three less goblins. I spun my quarterstaff around me, forming a sort of "whack the enemy away with kung-fu power" shield as I tried to kill off all the goblins so I could close the damn door. Now if I were a mace or sword wielding brute, I would have all these goblins fatally wounded or dead very quickly, but a lot of people fail to realize the precision necessary to use a quarterstaff properly and lethally, if it's not a blow to the head or a slam to the chest when the enemy is lying on their back, the enemy is likely to survive the blow with little more than a broken bone or perhaps blunt force trauma. So the challenge of killing twenty goblins so I could close a gate was a lot more demanding than I had expected.

I had successfully killed five of their number, and knocked out another three, but I could feel myself growing tired, I was already moving half as fast as I could normally go, and several goblins had gotten close enough to warrant me having between them and the door, and taking several slashes. I began another kung-fu shield and turned my head to the side.

"Father Zantus!" I shouted, "I'm so very sorry, but I've failed you. I cannot hold these goblins for much longer, I'm going to die and with me many innocent wounded folk. I'm sorry I couldn't be the hero you wanted me to be." I turned my head back to the goblins, ready to take as many of them down with me as I could, when Father Zantus spoke, and he was really close to me.

"Do not lose faith! Even you, a cleric in training knows the strength of faith! The battle is not truly lost until there is no faith left in one's heart." He was standing right in the doorway, and was flanked by several members of the clergy, they were currently waiting for me to push the goblins back one more time before they sealed the doors shut. Unable to continue fighting I dropped down to one knee, and used my staff to try and keep myself up. The goblins were encroaching fast, I closed my eyes, waiting for the transition to wherever people like me go when we die. I never felt anything. I opened my eyes to see the goblins frozen in stasis, I turned and saw Father Zantus and his five clergy members holding their hands out, energy flowed from their palms and encompassed the little green devils.

"I told you not to lose faith my daughter. For your brothers and sisters always hold faith within you, and it would not be kind to them to squander such a gift."

"Yeah! We know you can do it!"

"Indeed, now go out there and...what was the term? Oh yes. Kick the asses and take the names."

"If you keep fighting, I will buy you all the pie you can eat!"

"You're a hero! You can do anything!"

"Yes, you are a hero! Our, hero. Now go and save the day." They think I'm a….hero? Dammit I can't stand up, I don't want to let them down.

" _Flante!_ _"_ A burst of force blasted out from Father Zantus, sending the goblins in stasis flying in many directions. " _Renovare._ _"_ I felt warm, soothing energy flow through me and I suddenly felt revitalized. I got to my feet and nodded at the clerics ready to shut the doors.

"Thank you. All of you. I will not disappoint, and I'm holding you to that pie thing." I pointed a finger at the cleric who offered the pie. He gulped then nodded, flashing me a bright smile.

"Go my daughter, the gods have much yet planned for the fair people of this town, and it appears you have been chosen to be the one to save us all." The door slammed shut behind me and I heard the bars be pulled into place. I smirked at the goblins approaching yet again, and flourished my staff. "The shitstorm has come, and you are all caught right in the middle of it." I leaned forward, waiting for the goblins to get closer. Twenty yards. Fifteen yards. Ten yards. Five yards. I grinned evilly and burst forward, charging the closest goblin.

I planted my foot into it's face and used the poor little shit as a kickboard to launch myself into the air. I held my quarterstaff out at the goblins below and when i got within range i thrust at one right in the eye. Blood spurted everywhere and I used the remaining force from the blow to launch myself back into the air, this time flipping and landing on one knee the middle of a group of goblins. They were all cautiously maintaining their distance, I smirked again and slowly stood up. I heard rustling through the air and suddenly a very familiar black robed figure landed behind me, his back to mine.

"You looked like you needed help." The gravelly voice stated.

"I have it under control, these things aren't much of a challenge." I replied.

"That's not what it looked like in front of the church." He pulled a longsword out from his cloak, and with a crackling burst, arcs of electricity jumped between his fingertips and raced around his hand.

"I was fighting defensively, I'm not very good at that. I'm more of a 'dance around them and make them regret ever being born' type of person." I heard him snort and could picture him smirking under that hood. "Whatever, asshole. What's with the electric hand? What happened to the whole 'my hand can burst into flame' thing, did the routine get old?" He shrugged,

"Lighting's a lot cooler. Heads up, looks like the fight is starting again." Sure enough the first of the goblins took a tentative step forward, before shrieking and charging towards us. I readied my quarterstaff, but just as the goblin got within range I felt a hand on my shoulder. Cape dude lifted himself over my head, threw himself into the air and slammed the sword into the ground, slicing the poor goblin in two.

"Hey! I thought we were doing sides!?"

"Hmph, you must not have heard me call dibs on this side." He set the palm of his electrified hand against the forehead of a goblin, like someone would to their younger brother. Except the younger brother usually doesn't begin to blacken and twitch from the high amounts of electricity being pumped into him. The poor bastard fell over backwards, his head as black as burnt toast. He then pivoted and thrust his longsword straight through the heart of another approaching goblin. "I would appreciate you handling your side. After all you said you didn't need help. Unless you were wrong and want me to do all the work?" I quickly turned and smashed a goblin on the temple. I tripped another one and slammed my quarterstaff into his chest, with a sickening crunch his chest caved in and he stopped moving. Another was brought down by a sharp smack to the front of the face, and I crushed the head of another goblin. On my side, unconscious and dead goblins flew everywhere, while the sound of bones being crushed rang out. On Mr. Asshole's side, blood and dismembered body parts of many goblins littered the floor.

Once we had cleared that wave of goblins, another large group was heading our way, Mr. Asshole turned to me. "I'm going to charge the goblins, when I shout now, you need to throw your quarterstaff as though it were a javelin. Understood?" I nodded, but then opened my mouth to ask a question, alas I was too late. The cloaked avenger went rushing off to meet the sharp toothed menace. When he met the horde, he began quite a beautiful, yet bloody dance of steel, He dismembered goblins and ended their lives quickly and effortlessly. He then kicked off the face of a goblin and landed very far back. He began to charge the goblins again, and shouted, "Now!" He yelled. I hurled the staff as hard as I could, and he dropped to his knees and bent back, sliding across the slick, bloody cobble. He grabbed the staff with ease and leapt back to his feet. Once he was almost upon the horde once more, he used it as a vault to land on their heads, running across them he landed on the opposite side of the street. Assuming his intentions, I ran forward and grabbed the staff from the ground. We had them flanked.

* * *

~ _In Another Part of the Town~_

Daerion sidestepped to avoid another bolt. He shot a glare at the (absurdly) tall elf before hacking the arm off another goblin attempting to get around his shield.

"If you don't want to get shot at, move out of the way." He heard the elf state smugly

"Brother. That is no way to treat one who fights with us. He is one of nature's children, and should be respected as such." calmly stated the elf that was spinning and dancing around the goblins, scythe glinting in the sunlight and droplets of blood following it like rose petals. "At least give the poor man a warning next time"

"Fine. I'll make sure to let him know when I shoot" A mechanical twang sounded, and Daerion jerked slightly to the left to avoid the bolt that went sailing past his ear. "I shot"

"Wulfe!"

"For the love of the gods Feanor the man's been able to handle himself fine, he's dodged all the bolts so far, if one hits him than it will be his fault for getting too cocky."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way" Daerion shouted behind him

"Dammit all! When the hell did i manage to surround myself with stuck up assholes?" Daerion took a half step back as another goblin managed to climb over his tower shield, only to be shot between the eyes by Wulfe. "You're welcome!" A high pitched shriek filled the air as a rat-like dog began to panic and run through the horde of goblins, a child sized figure riding it

"Look Daerion! I got me a doggie!" The small man deftly leaped off the dog to avoid the slashes of two nearby goblins, and successfully landed back onto the dog.

"Damn it Callidus! You're going to get yourself killed!" Screamed the brown-haired man as he lopped the head of a goblin before it could strike the halfling.

"Relax. I've done things like this like a bajillion times!" In an impressive display of flexibility, Callidus bent all the way back, the back of his head touching the flank of the goblin-dog, to avoid more haphazard goblin swings. With a laugh he flicked the forehead of a goblin attempting to bite him.

Feanor stepped over the stampeding duo and swung his scythe in a wide arch, cleanly slicing through the bodies of the goblins. Under his breath, quiet murmuring could be heard. " _Your bodies return to the earth, your souls to the oceans, and your blood to the fires of life. We are all children of nature, and it is with a heavy heart that I cut you down so others may live. We are all created from nature, and so must we return. Your time has come."_ Upon reaching the end he would restart it, as though it were a holy psalm to bring peace to his foes. Meanwhile a very large flower bud spit out the skull of a goblin, all the flesh melted off of it, and proceeded to gobble up another of the pint sized terrors

All of this was observed by a duo standing crouched on a nearby rooftop.

"...Should we help them out?" Asked Severine after seeing the halfling barely avoid the slash of a goblin.

"They seem to have it under control" Smoothly stated the robed figure at the same moment as Daerion lifted Callidus and his dog (barely avoiding being bitten) and placing them behind him, seemingly scolding Callidus. The goblin-dog proceeded to bite Daerion in the hindquarters and try to buck Callidus off, creating a humorous spectacle of chaos. The hooded man hung his head and sighed loudly. "Perhaps we need to get down there and help them Severine" Severine laughed and with a quick 'race ya!' leapt off the rooftop to another building.

* * *

( _P.O.V Severine)_

I felt the wind pull my hood off my face as I dashed from building to building towards the group of fighters. I could practically feel Mr. Asshole behind me, I knew he could probably outrun me, but knowing him he probably had some strategic reason to let the cleric go first.

As begrudged as I am to admit it, Asshole is a surprisingly good warrior. Thanks to him I was able to get through a large crowd of goblins (I would have been able to do it alone, but him being there helped save me from personal injury) and get to where I was quite a bit faster. Leaping down from the rooftops, I plunged straight into the heart of the horde. I called upon the magic in my blood and let it form in the shape of a red dagger made of energy in my hand and with a swift motion, stabbed it into the skull of a goblin. The dagger disappeared immediately, the negative energy quickly being absorbed by the goblins blood, and i watched as the goblin experienced what i can honestly say, is a chilling death.

You see, every cleric is capable of using negative energy, but there is a reason why the ones who specialize in it worship evil gods, or are a wee bit on the messed up side. Channeling positive energy into spells makes you feel warm and relaxed, like laying in the sun on a cool summers day, your blood feels alive, and if shaped properly its primary use is healing. Negative energy however feels like jumping into a lake in the dead of winter. It's from this that the old saying "The cold grasp of death" comes from, negative energy being the basis of almost all necromancy. Now when you're hurt by a spell using raw negative energy, it basically takes your blood and makes them dead cells, unable to take in any more oxygen and not properly transporting nutrients, and if you do not have enough red blood cells to be converted, the energy shapes itself into dead cells.

So I watched as all of the goblin's blood was swiftly eradicated.

I'm told it's not a painful death, just a very...cold one.

Mr. Asshole landed within the ring of defenders, and I heard the tall elf exclaim "You made me miss my shot you fucking idiot! That was one of my last 25 bolts!" I could practically hear Asshole shrug indifferently. Smirking and bashed my way through the goblins over to the defenders. "You all looked like you needed some help. So here we are"

"She means here I am, she really isn't any help." I flipped him off and smacked a goblin on the side of the head. "Compact the ring and give me some time"

"What the hell for? If you haven't noticed, we don't exactly HAVE time!" Shouted the only apparent human in the group.

"Just give me some time, I'll send them all running...down to hell"

The armored man swung his shield out, sending a goblin flying as he considered his options, after a moment he nodded curtly and shouted; "Form a quarter ring around the corner! Feanor-" He pointed at the shorter of the two elves, "-and-"

"Severine" I said as he pointed at me, he nodded again,  
"-and Severine with me at the edge, Callidus get right behind me and stab any of the bastards that we miss. Wulfe provide cover fire, thin out their ranks so we don't get swamped down. Whatever you do, don't let them through, I'd rather not have whatever Cloaky over there is cooking up blow up in our faces." We quickly made our way to the corner of the market, where two buildings met and formed a quarter ring. The tall elf - who I now know is named Wulfe - stood at the back, just in front of Asshole, who was standing directly in the corner, his hands rapidly moving through different gestures as he muttered under his breath. Feanor was on the other side of Brown Hair and directly behind us was the halfling -Callidus- his rapier held out in front of him like a traditional duelist.

The goblins we left behind in our scramble to the corner were quickly approaching. "Hold the line!" Brown Hair shouted, "They are half our size-"  
"Speak for yourself!" quipped the halfling.  
"They are half the size of most of us. Are you happy now? Anyway, hold the line and all that. Thanks Callidus you ruined my moment."  
"Always a plae...plus…. I like doing that." Callidus replied. He looked at the approaching goblins from between Brown Hair's legs and sighed, "I'm gonna need a drink after this" Shortly after, the goblins reached us and the fighting began.

I could have sworn I heard Brown Hair mutter something like 'you always need a drink' but I pushed that out of my mind.

I would just like to mention that I've just met these people, and the gods be damned, Brown Hair gave us all the perfect places to fight. Due to the shape of the quarter ring, Feanor and I were ahead of Brown Hair by about two feet and that gave us just enough space to do our martial arts routine. I say martial arts, but that really only covers mine. He actually looked like he was dancing, I hate elves so much for just that reason. They always seem to approach things with grace and beauty and-

"Whoo! Did you see that shot!?" Exclaimed Wulfe, who had just shot and killed a goblin instantly, "That went clean through! Holy shit I can see his brains! That's so cool!"

...Okay maybe most elves are like Feanor. But seriously, when I twirl my quarterstaff around me, you hear cracks and goblin screams and blood just kinda splatters everywhere, but when Feanor does it with his scythe? It's practically silent, the weapon just cuts through them and slices their skulls clean in half, and rather than splatter of blood, streams of the stuff trail behind that scythe of his.

Any goblins we didn't kill in our mini maelstroms of death, Brown Hair would quickly beat down with his shield, or hold them off long enough for Callidus to dart out from between his legs and shove that needle like blade of his right into the goblin's trachea, without fail. The damn halfling is insanely precise with his thrusts, always stabbing in just the right spot to kill the runts instantly.

Wulfe proved to be a deadeye with that crossbow of his, while he seemed to have a very limited range of motion -he would turn to shoot something 90 degrees to his right, rather than holding his arm out and looking in that direction- every one of his shots was placed in just the right spot, so while he didn't always kill them instantly (something I blame more on the type of crossbow than his own skill), he certainly put them out of the fight and made sure that he slowed down any other goblins near the one he killed

"Collapse against the walls!" I heard Mr. Asshole shout, we all did exactly as he said and looked to see his entire body wreathed in flame. "Roast in the inferno you little green bastards. I'll see you in hell!" He swung his arms in an arch and with a roar of _**Liontári tou Dánti!**_ He slammed his arms to the ground and a surge of fire, taking the form of a pack of lions charging across the ground consumed them all. We turned to him again, mouths agape to see him panting hard. An instant later he sagged and collapsed to the ground. Running over to him I fell to my knees next to his collapsed body.  
"Dammit you bastard," I muttered, "We could have handled it. You didn't need to get all dramatic and practically drain yourself of magic." Brown-Hair walked up behind me.  
"Is he gonna be okay?" I looked over my shoulder at him and cracked my knuckles, ready to start pooling magic in them.  
"Yeah, he's just being overdramatic, he could probably keep going without the magic, but I'm gonna perform a transfusion just in case." With that, the magic pooling in my hands took a physical form in the radiant purple glow coming out of my hands, putting each hand on his pectorals, I pushed and the energy was directly injected into him, which should hopefully jump start his reproduction of magic, getting him up on his feet real quick. I heard him groan and he shifted, I pushed him back down when he tried to sit up. "You practically drained yourself of mana. I'm a novice and even I know that's dangerous. You will lay your ass back down and stay there until I, the healer here, say you can get up." He gave a resigned sigh and tilted his head to the side, letting me continue with the transfusion.

There was a mighty roar and the earth shook as the large pile of firewood ignited in a single instant. The bodies of three charred goblins hit the ground near our corner, the remaining 6 of their company danced around the pyre, torches in each hand, their knives forgotten. The leader of their little band was wearing what seemed to be a candelabra melted down and reforged into a circlet it wore around it's head. The five, lit candle sticks framed the back of his head, giving him a very priest like feel, a feeling that was further exemplified as he seemed to lead the goblins in chant around the fire. The "extravagant" headpiece seemed to attract the attention of Callidus as his attention was locked on the goblin. He took a step forward and Brown-Hair pulled him back.

"Dammit Callidus, there are six of them, and one of you. At least wait for Cloaky-  
"Vex" Mr. Asshole croaked. What? You let Brown-Hair know your name but you don't tell me! Dammit you deserve your nickname. I spiked the energy going into him, giving him a sharp little jolt and smirked at the yelp of surprise that came from the cloaked man

"Thank you, Vex. As I was saying Callidus-" Brown-Hair cut off as he looked around bewildered, Callidus was nowhere to be seen! Brown-Hair began to look panicked as he spun on his heel towards the goblin pyre, and sure enough, there was the small halfling sprinting towards the enemy, rapier drawn and gleefully shouting something about the glory of some man named Cayden. "Callidus!" Brown-Hair shouted, his entire body tense with anger, "You get your brown ass back here this instant or I swear to all the gods above and below us, I will drag you to every corner of the Inner Sea, tied to Ace's back left leg!" Callidus had only the most intuitive and astute of responses

"You can kiss my fuzzy, drunken ass! You big metal tin man!"

"That's it you alcoholic bastard, if you die, I'm dragging you back from whatever pit you go too and then I'm gonna kill you again myself!" With that exclamation, Brown-Hair took off at a sprint after Callidus, Wulfe close behind whooping; "Hoo-Fucking-Ray! I get to kill me some more goblins!"

Feanor looked down at Mr. Ass- Vex, and I. "Do you require my assistance, while I would not be capable of such a feat of restorative magic, as that is a power reserved only for the strongest of nature's chosen." I look up at him, confusion etched on my face. What the fuck was he talking about? Even Vex sat up a little bit to give him, what I assumed to be cause I can't see under his hood, a bewildered look. Feanor coughed before looking away for a moment, realizing that his statement was rather off putting. He turned back to us with a patient smile and simply asked; "Do you require my assistance?"

I beamed at him "Nah, me and Vexie here-"

"Don't call me that." Croaked Vex from next too me, too which I responded with a sharp elbow jab to the stomach.

"As I was saying. Vexie and I have got it handled, I'll have him all healed and singing folk songs in a matter of seconds."

"I do not sing folk songs, and I would have been on my feet by now if you weren't constantly hitting me!" I simply jabbed him again with my elbow

"Who's the medic here? That's what I thought, so shut up and let me do my job so you can get up and do your job." I looked up at Feanor again, who was still standing above us, awaiting a clear answer. "We're all good here Feanor, go help them out, they could use you and your scythe." With a curt nod, Feanor hefted his scythe behind him to clear his legs, allowing him to sprint after the others unimpeded. He was followed shortly by a giant waddling plant, green, acidic saliva still dripping out of it's tan, bud like head.

Turning back to Vex, I leaned in close too him and whispered; "Listen here, knowing my luck I used way too much of my own energy just to give you back what you lost. Meaning that if I use more magic, there is the possibility of me collapsing from exhaustion," His eyes widened at the implications of that. Having the one confirmed person capable of casting any kind of healing magics fall unconscious could be disastrous. "I see you understand my dilemma. I want to make myself very clear, I understand that your flashy display earlier was necessary to get us out that shit storm. But if you decide to be fancy and do something like that again without the situation warranting it, I will kick your ass so hard that you'll be begging me to heal you come next tuesday, you know when you finally wake up again from the ass-whooping." I lifted him up and pushed him towards the action, and smirked at the subtle shiver of fear I saw run through his body. "Now go get 'em tiger."

Vex drew his longsword from the scabbard it was kept in and dashed after the rest of the group, who seemed to be dealing with reinforcements for the original six goblins that were there.

Tease and insult them as you may, but you have to admit; if there is one thing goblins are good at, it's outnumbering the enemy.

At the very moment I thought that, I heard the squeaky war cry of a goblin that leaped down upon me from the rooftops…

...only to splat onto the ground two feet to my left.

Look I said they were good at outnumbering the enemy, not that they were intelligent or anything

After gently nudging the corpse of the goblin (just assuring myself it wasn't about to spring up in a display of courage and energy not befitting their tiny frames, as they are want to do), I turned my attention back to the rest of the group, who were faring well with Vex's arrival (not that they didn't have the situation handled before he arrived, these are goblins we are talking about after all). I let out a sigh, just cause I'm the healer doesn't mean I don't want to, you know, kick some ass. Bash some skulls together

Fun stuff like that.

"God I wish I had something to hit" I sigh again and kick a rock, the rock skips away and lands in the open mouth of a dead goblins. Whoo! Hole in one! I start walking towards the improvised rock-golf hole, and not long after I reach the goblin, stoop down to fish out the rock and get ready to kick it again, a shrill shriek fills the air. Brown-Hair snaps the neck of the last goblin around the pyre and looks out in the direction of the scream.

"Damn, sounds like someone's in trouble." Way to state the obvious my brownie haired friend.

Oh my various gods, brownies sound so good right now.

Callidus ran in front of Brown-Hair and turned to face him. "Well? What are we waiting for? We're the heroes right now, so we've gotta save that damsel in distress!"

"I do not think we should jump to conclusions, yet my short friend. We do not have evidence that this person is either male or female." Feanor interjected.

"Bro, did you hear how fucking high that shriek was? The only time I've ever heard a man scream out with a voice that high pitched was when Papa Nature over there took a big chomp on his delicate bits." Wulfe jerked his thumb towards the large plant. "I bet some pathetic dame is just waiting for brave men like us to valiantly rush in to save the day!" I walked up behind him and smacked him upside the head. "The fuck!?" He turned to face me and I promptly introduced his "delicate bits" to my knee. His shriek was notably higher pitched than the scream we had heard.

"I don't think it matter what their damn gender is at the moment," I said to the elf that was slowly sinking to his knees, "So how's about we stop talking about something as stupid as this and get a damn move on? What do you say Callidus?" I turned to see three people obviously missing from the group.

"Can't talk, too busy being a hero!" Shouted the aforementioned halfling, who was already almost halfway to the person in trouble, flanked by Brown-Hair and Vex.

"I won't be left behind gods damn it!" I broke off at a sprint after them, leaving the elven siblings behind, one still hunched over in pain.

"Ah jeez….fuck she hits hard," the taller elven brother moaned in pain, "Mind helping me up brother?" He lifted his arm hoping to be pulled up, but then noticed that no one made to grab it, looking up he realized that Feanor had already ran off after Severine and the rest of the group. "Bro! What the fuck man!?"

"I am sorry brother," Shouted Feanor, a small smile present on his usually expressionless face, "Perhaps you should not have offended the healer. After all she knows which places that hurt the most when hit. Feel free to get up whenever you're ready." Wulfe burst into a very long string of profanities, all directed at the retreating back of his brother.

* * *

Finally reaching the location of the scream, we came face to face with the first actually intimidating goblin we had encountered. This one's skin was a green several shades darker than all the other goblins we had seen, it's bare arms covered in numerous scars and scratches, and rather than the crude lump of iron on a stick the other goblins used, this one bore a crudely made halberd, befitting its size. A hodge podge of many different pieces of armor formed a breastplate and greaves for the little menace, and on it's head was the carved skull of a horse. Together, it actually gave it a fairly intimidating presence. However there was one detail that made all those other things pale in comparison to its intimidation factor.

The fact it was riding a fucking wolf

The goblin dug his heels into the wolf, prodding it into moving forward towards its only opposition, a growling cinder-hound, whose patches of orange fur were smoldering with small flames in its anger, that was snapping at the head-goblin. The entourage of this "boss" goblin as it were, seemed to be utterly terrified of this small tracking hound, whereas the "boss" goblin was not bothered by the black and orange dog in the slightest. Seeing the poor puppy in trouble, I kicked up my speed by several notches, quickly overtaking Callidus and Vex, who had the lead.

"Hey! Over here you big, dumb brute!" I called out, attempting to antagonize the ugly bastard. The goblin turned its head towards me and sneered, "Yeah you, peas for brains! Come and get your daily dose of ass kicking!" The goblin's sneer turned into cocky grin and he jabbed his mount into turning towards us, the tracking hound took that as its chance to attack.

It leaped at the head goblin, it's teeth sinking into the exposed flesh of its left arm. Crying out in pain and rage, the goblin shook the hound off and slashed out with his halberd, fatally wounding the dog. At its anguished cry, I felt as though fire started running through my veins as I stared the boss goblin down in fury. It flicked the blood of the poor hound off the axe head of its halberd and laughed. It hoisted its weapon towards us and shouted out a rallying cry in goblin, most likely telling his posse to charge.

Only for him to find out they had all deserted him when they noticed my eyes smoldering with murderous intent. The head goblin paled inside its mask and felt itself start to shake as I stopped running and began slowly traversing the last several yards between myself and it. I slowly brought my quarterstaff up until it was leaning against my shoulder and stopped in my tracks, just a couple feet away from the quivering goblin. I looked down at the wolf (who was shaking in fear too) and flicked it lightly on the nose. That little hit was apparently enough to break its spirit as it threw its rider onto the ground at my feet and bolted in the other direction.

I kicked the goblin that lay before my feet and it started trying to scurry away. I stomped my foot down onto the back of its knee, and was satisfied at the resounding crunch that was heard. It cried out in pain, but rather than try to scurry away again (not that it would have gotten very far with a broken kneecap and my foot still on the back of its knee), it grabbed an item tied to its belt that I had stupidly mistaken for a drinking horn.

"Severine! Don't let it blow that!" Way ahead of you Brownie. I raised my foot again, ready to crush the horn when he brought it to his lips and blew. The high pitched bellow of the horn resounded for several seconds before I crushed it and lined the end of the my quarterstaff with the back of its skull. Before I could let it drop though, a small arrow whizzed by my head, barely missing my ear. I turned my head and looked in the direction the arrow had come from, and saw another goblin perched on a rooftop, a bow in its hand and a quiver full of arrows at the ready. I could tell that had been a warning shot, this goblin could have easily hit the back of my head if it had wanted too. Besides the fact it was wearing the skull of a dog as a helm, it was too far away for me to make out any other details.

I looked in the other direction and saw that Brownie and company were almost here, and I hoped to all the various gods that Brownie himself would show up in time to block that arrow that was gonna go through my skull in a matter of moments. I raised my quarterstaff and prepared to take out the goblin, but as I let it drop, I was blasted away by a large wave of pure force.

Across the street was another goblin, this one wearing a human skull to protect its head, its hands were held out, and its eyes glowed a dull purple, tell-tale signs of a sorcerer. The sorcerer goblin lifted its comrade off the ground and carried it brought it close by, then the archer goblin jumped off the roof next to the sorcerer goblin, who lifted up a small bead and crushed it, and in a single instant, all three goblins disappeared.

"Severine, are you okay?" I heard the scratchy voice of Vex ask me. I nodded dully and he hoisted me up. I felt my head ringing and was overcome by the feeling of vertigo. Let me tell you, getting blasted away by anything, magic or not, is not fun. It leaves you disoriented and very light headed. After I had gotten my bearings and when I realized I was in the arms of Mr. "I'm-too-much-of-a-douche-to-tell-you-my-name", I leaped away with revulsion and proceeded to pretend to vomit, much to his annoyance I hope. He glared at me (or so I assume, he's wearing a hood).

"If you're done being a pain in everyone's ass,we have business to attend to." I stuck my tongue out at him and was rewarded with a sharp 'ch' from the robed man as he turned away from me.

"U-uh...excuse m-me?" We all stiffened at the sound of another voice speaking. Near the now completely still corpse of the poor hound, was a barrel, and currently standing in said barrel was a man in his mid twenties. Wavy black hair, pulled back into a ponytail gave us a good view at his face.

He had a very angled face, all lines and very few rounded parts, his thin eyebrows furrowed together and he looked at his with soft brown eyes, darting about in fear. His eyes fell upon the body of the hound and his thin lips pulled down at the corners into a frown. Brownie cleared his throat to get the man's attention and he jerked in fear.

"Ah! Terribly sorry, I did not mean to inconvenience you by being caught by those damn gremlins. I thank you for saving me."

"No need to be sorry my good man," Brownie responded, waving a hand at his concerns, "Do you need help getting out of that barrel there?" The man shook his head and climbed out, he dusted off his very finely made clothes and gently pulled on a few tears with a look of disgust on his face. He was quite obviously a man of wealth. "May I get your name sir?" Inquired Brownie.

"Yes, my name is Foxglove, Aldern Foxglove current head of the Foxglove family of Magnimar." He ran his hands down the front of his shirt, smoothing out wrinkles and attempting to appear more noble. "May I ask the same of…" He locked eyes with me and trailed off. Oh shit. If he fucking recognizes me or something I'm screwed! Ah fuck! This is the first time I've ever been to Sandpoint, and I certainly haven't gone any farther south, there's no way he could recognize me? Or could he? I looked away from him and he began approaching, I felt him near me and was expecting to be yelled at or slapped or something to that effect.

When I felt a hand grab mine and place a single kiss on my knuckle. I looked down to see Aldern on one knee, kissing my hand as though I was some sort of pompous noble or something.

"My lady, I am glad to see you are unharmed," sensing my confusion he looked up at me, "You see my lady, I was cowering in the barrel over there, knowing it was only a matter of time before my lifeblood would coat the blade of that mongrel, when I heard a voice that seemed as though it had been sent from heaven to rescue me. I peered out of the barrel and saw you charging that dim witted creature. After my faithful hound was..." He looked at the corpse with sadness in his eyes, "Well, you know. I was so touched that someone as elegant and beautiful as yourself would have such protective ferocity, and would injure such a cruel fiend as handily as you had. When that other heathen used his foul magics to launch you away, I feared you had been injured. But I am greatly relieved that you are unscathed." He flashed me a charming grin and I suppressed the urge to both punch him in the face, and I don't know like give him a damn hug or something.

Brownie cleared his throat, getting Aldern's attention, "It's nice to meet you Aldern. My name is Ser Daerion." Ah damn, and here was I hoping his name actually had something to do with brownies. Yum, food. Gods, I'm starving for some kind of baked good.

"And what is your name, my thorned rose?" I looked down at Aldern, who had returned his attention to me and raised an eyebrow.

"Thorned rose? Isn't that just a bit redundant?" He simply shrugged and kissed my knuckle again.

"Your beauty requires repetition to truly convey what it means to me." Oh damn he's smooth. I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked anywhere but at him

"Severine. My name is Severine." I blurted out. Gods, I feel more awkward than the average teenager.

"If you two are quite done, I'm sure there are people who would like to see us since, you know, we just got done slaughtering at least half a tribes worth of goblins?" Vex interrupted, walking between Aldern and I. Aldern smiled up at the taller man.

"Ah, are you another one of Severine's friends? It is a pleasure to meet you." He stuck out his hand, Vex looked at it for several moments before briskly walking past him, his attention focused on Daerion.

"Don't mind him Aldern," I said to the dejected looking man, "He's just jealous someone else made a move on me before he did." I saw him stiffen, so he heard me huh? Good. I could just imagine an eye twitching underneath that cloak of his. Just as I finished that thought, my own eye started to twitch as a voice I recognized rang out from behind me.

"Ah fuck! Did I miss all the fun? Gods be damned!" Wulfe shouted, angrily unloading his crossbow and putting it away. I turned to face him, grinding my teeth together I said;

"Didn't I knee you in the balls?" Wulfe glared at me and stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah, you sure did. You know, I really don't appreciate it when people decide it's okay to hurt other people. But rest assured that next time you decide to hit me in my most sensitive area, I will be well pre-"

Wulfe's high pitched shriek once again echoed into the sky.

 **A/N: Whew. Well, it's been a year since I first posted this chapter, and it has undergone many edits and actually went before the eyes on one of my players (who so kindly took the role of editor) and I decided to commemorate my return this story (after far too long dammit!) by updating the first chapter with its new and improved version. Please, tell me what you think, any kind of feedback is immensely helpful!**


	2. Chapter Two: Daerion

**A/N: Big thanks to my players turned editors: Trenton, Kyle, and Jeremy. I couldn't have made this without ya buds!**

Chapter Two

 _Daerion_

"I don't know if I can finish this." Callidus dejectedly said, rubbing his stomach and eyeing the unfinished bowl of soup. Staring at the six empty bowls around the barely touched one my eye began to twitch.

"You couldn't have decided this before I paid for that one?" I glared hard at him after he shrugged in response.

"Eh, thought I'd still be hungry." I could practically see the glint in his eyes as a small smile grew on his face. "I could go for a drink though." I resisted the urge to plant my face onto the table, or better yet, his face into the soup bowl.

"Of course you could." I could almost feel my coin purse begin to weep in agony as I extracted a large stack of gold for Him. Knowing his impressive tolerance for alcohol, he'd be back requesting more before the night is through. "I have no idea why I continue to fund your attempt to murder your liver and kidneys." Callidus shot a toothy grin at me

"Its cause ya love me!" I scoffed and deigned not to answer that, focusing instead on my own bowl of soup, idly stirring my spoon. For a simple meal of meat, carrots, beans and broth, it was quite delicious. The Innkeep (Ameiko if I recall correctly) is quite the chef. The feel of someone sitting down across from me shattered my thoughts before they could build into a monologue of most epic proportions. Expecting Callidus I didn't even pay attention to who it was, I opened my mouth;

"Remember the rule you little gremlin, if you're too drunk to make it to your room on your own by the end of the night; I will throw you into the stables with Ace and leave you there 'til morning. My horse could use the company." My head snapped up when I heard a soft chuckle that definitely did not belong to Callidus. Feanor was sitting across from me, peering at me with dull lilac eyes.

"I am afraid that I am not fond of alcohol, however if your horse is lonely, I will be very glad to keep him company." He smiled at me, to which I gave a snort and a slight smirk. Before I could return to my meal I felt another person take a seat. Vex cleared his throat and steepled his hands in front of his hooded face.

"There are some things we must discuss and decide are there not Daerion?" I sighed, could I not just enjoy my damn soup in peace? Setting down the spoon, I barely felt as I became lost in recollection.

* * *

 _(Four hours prior. 4 o'clock pm)_

I gazed out the window in disinterest, looking at all the people amiably talking and wandering the streets. The festival wasn't dampened at all, even though they were just attacked by goblins, in fact; they might even be in an _even more_ celebratory mood. After all, they now have 6 brand new 'Heroes of Sandpoint.' I'm not even kidding, they're calling us full blown heroes. Sure we killed some goblins, but we certainly didn't kill them all. We slew perhaps a third, not even that!. A sixth offed themselves just through sheer stupidity, and the majority of them fled with their tails between their legs. However, to be fair to the villagers, there were no casualties on our side of things, a couple of villagers got hurt, but nothing Father Zantus (that amazing miracle worker) couldn't fix quickly.

"Daerion! Daerion!" I looked over at Callidus, who was waving a sheathed, ornate letter opener in the air, "Look! I found a...a...thing!" He furrowed his brow, trying to decipher what this amazing 'thing' could possibly be. "It's shaped like a weapon. Like a...like a...dagger," His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth, "but it's too small, is it a dinner knife?" He pulled it out of the sheath and examined the small, silver blade. "No...it's not that either. It seems a little too small to be used to fight something, even for me. Hmm…" I stood up and swiped it out of his hands, you'd think he was a gods-forsaken child with the way he acts. I sheathed the letter opener that had so enraptured my unwanted ward.

"This, is a letter opener Callidus. The only thing a normal person would fight with this is their mail." I shifted the knife in my hand and offered it back to Callidus, "Now would you kindly put that back where you found it?" With that I turned from him and began pacing the room. "Where in the nine circles of hell are they? The sheriff requested us to be here half an hour ago, and we're the only people here!" I looked at Callidus, who was searching the bookshelf, already having forgotten where he had found the letter opener (and quite possibly the thing itself), and sighed, "We probably wouldn't have been here on time either if I hadn't dragged away from the mead samples...may the gods of wine and ale never decide you're worth their attention." He didn't hear me, to engrossed in the search for the resting place of his treasure. "Callidus!" His head snapped to mine and he quirked his head questioningly, "Just keep the damn thing, I saw at least two other letter openers in the other room. It won't be missed." 'You won't even miss it when you lose it' went unsaid. He pocketed the knife (with obvious bewilderment, he _had_ forgotten it existed), and flopped onto one of the cushioned chairs in the study, kicking his legs back and forth, resembling a child waiting for the doctor.

I remained standing at the bookshelf, giving a cursory glance at the books stacked neatly on the shelves. No titles of particular note stood out to me, but I picked one at random, and began perusing the pages.

More time passed and Callidus and I traded places. I sat in the chair and began to flip through the pages of the book, very intrigued by the tale of betrayal, political strife, mass warfare, and death. Callidus took to waving around his rapier at imaginary enemies, jumping and flipping out of the way of invisible attacks and then stabbing out at-what I assume-a weak point on his imaginary foe. I closed the book with a sigh (making a mental note to ask the mayor if she would be okay with me borrowing it for awhile), and briefly considered simply leaving and dealing with all this later. It had been a full hour now since we were supposed to meet and there was no sign of them at all. I stood up and started moving to the door, ready to make my way outside when I heard the main doors to the mayor's house creak open-a deliberate attempt at a quiet entrance, foiled by the old hinges of an old door. Classic warning sign of an amateur thief, and when unpracticed thieves are caught...situations tend to devolve to violence. The sound of hushed voices reached my ears-angry, hushed voices, denoting hostility towards someone-and my mind immediately ran through the steps to take down a hostile burglar. I moved Callidus behind me (so that I could draw the attention of our foes and he could strike while their focus was elsewhere), a quickly whispered message told him to get on guard and I grasped the hilt of my sword, ready to draw should they enter. Footsteps to the door, a hand upon the handle, it twists. I shift my footing, ready to bash with my shield, if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll-

The hooded one (Vex I believe) and the smaller of the two elven brothers (Feanor, if my memory doesn't fail me) entered the room, followed closely by their prospective partners, Severine and Wulfe respectively. The two were arguing with each other about...well something I would assume, voices at a hush in a failing attempt not to attract unwanted attention, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. I let myself relax and I heard the dull scrape of Callidus' rapier returning to its sheath. Vex stepped to my side, whereas Feanor stopped at the middle of the room to stare at his sibling and his siblings apparent rival argue, a sigh and a pinched nose being the only signs of exasperation from the unflappable man.

"I apologize for our being late," Vex said to me, inclining his head towards me, "it took quite a while to get these two," he gestured at the argueing pair, "to cease their bickering so we could all move to this meeting. There was a lot of stopping along the way as their arguments would spike or move to new topics or…" He sighed as the pair began to raise their voices. I felt my eye begin to twitch upon seeing Callidus begin to scribble words with an ink pen on the clothing of the oblivious pair. I did, however, snicker slightly when Callidus managed to write "Aim here" slightly above Wulfe's most sensitive area, all of that without the pair noticing a thing. I turned my head to look at Vex

"So you mean to tell me they've been at it since we parted ways a few hours ago?" Feanor and Vex shared a look, then they turned to me and as one said;

"Yes they have." I groaned and wiped my brow in exasperation.

"Oh for the love of all that is holy. They're like an Old married couple. One who should've divorced years ago." I rolled my shoulders and stepped towards them, despite slight resistance from Vex, and placed myself between the two, pushing them apart. "Would the two of you just shut up? The last thing we wanted was to make a scene in the mayor's own household, and your ceaseless bickering is giving us nothing but a bad reputation." Wulfe glared over me at Severine.

"You should be telling her to shut her gods-be-damned mouth then! She's the one who started this." Wulfe exclaimed, pointing at Severine all the while. Severine just stuck out her tongue at him and glared.

"Maybe if you just shut your stupid face before you kept making lewd comments about all the woman in the main square, I wouldn't be getting on your cause."

"Oh here she goes again! Look, little princess, I said my sorrys, would you just get over it now?"

"Oh yeah, you said your sorrys alright. Right after staring down a married woman and commenting on her 'ample bosom' and right before you pinched the barmaid's ass! I don't give a rat's ass about an apology that you didn't fuckin' mean!"

"Oh you're just mad I yelled at you for kicking me in my bits. Maybe if you just fucking let this go instead of constantly bringing it back up and-"

"I did not you fucking liar! I apologized for the nut shot thing, you're the one who won't let this shit go!" I turned to face Wulfe, dropping the arm pushing Severine away, and keeping the one on him fully stretched out. I looked at Feanor and Vex.

"Is that true?" They nodded to me and I looked back at Wulfe, "I'm sorry Wulfe, but she's right. She apologized and dropped the issue, but you're the one the keeps bringing it back up, so you would be in the wrong here." Wulfe glared down at me, then at Severine and snarled.

"Of course you're siding with her! She's the only girl here so of course you've got to just bow down to her and her almighty lady bits and kiss the very ground she walks on. Let her do whatever she wants why don't ya huh? Cause she's the woman and the woman deserves to have her way all the time. Well I'm not having it, I'm sick of her thinking she can do whatever the hell she wants!" The whole room went silent, and I shivered as I felt the temperature drop by about twenty degrees. I felt a single hand gently set itself onto my shoulder and (to my sudden, great fear) was moved to the side like I weighed nothing. I saw fire burn in Severine's eyes as she walked up to Wulfe, her eyes and her clenched fists the only signs of her fury.

"And what exactly do you mean by that, Wulfe?" She said through gritted teeth. Wulfe bent over and glared hard at her.

"You damn well know what I mean, she-devil. You think that just cause you're a girl you can do whatever the hell you want. Everyone will just shower you with gifts and worship you from the bottom of their hearts. You expect me and other men to not appreciate the fine beauty of other women around cause you're just jealous you flat-chested daughter of a who-" He was cut off when Severine-predictably-sent a sharp kick right at her favorite target, putting Wulfe into a hunch, and skillfully tripped him by sweeping his feet out from under him.

"Bull's eye!" I heard Callidus shout, "Twenty points!" He began to laugh as Severine kicked him onto his back, straddled his chest, and began raining punches onto his face. Vex pinched his nose (I assume, it's hard to see under the hood) and made a sound of aggravation.

"Why am I not surprised?" I heard Feanor mumble something akin to 'not being surprising' and the three of us moved to break up the fight. Vex and I worked to pull Severine off of Wulfe and Feanor moved to help his brother up once she was off. Honestly, we should have been expecting Wulfe to throw a punch at Severine once she was no longer pinning one of his arms down, but none of us were in a position to stop it, all we could do was try to put more water on the fire as it surged once more. Feanor's face contorted into one of concentration, his hand held out at his brother and vines grew from between the cracks in the wood floor, binding Wulfe to the floor, as Vex (now using some kind of magic that helped pull) and I tried to pull Severine off Wulfe. I saw the glow from Vex's spell diminish and heard him exclaim in surprise, I turned my head to him and saw him trying to bat and pull an excited Callidus off of his head. The halfling had used the distraction to do one of his favorite things; messing with people by scampering onto their heads. He kept deftly dodging any of Vex's attempts to grab him with insane levels of flexibility, much to the hooded man's great displeasure.

"Get off of me you damn midget!" I heard Vex shout and with one hand still grasping Severine's cloak. With a well timed lunge with his hand, Vex punched Callidus square in the face, knocking him off of the man. I turned to face him in rising agitation.

"Hey! No one hits the little bastard but me! You don't lay a damn finger in anger on that little shit!" I starting batting at him with my other hand, putting Vex on the defensive as he tried to defend against my attacks as well as try to knock the recovered halfling off of his back again..

"Whoo! Teamwork! Thanks Daerion! I know you've got my back!" Callidus joyfully shouted.

"Fuck off Callidus, I'm not helping you annoy him, I'm just defending my right to be the only one allowed to injure you!" I barked at him as I continued to hit at Vex and pull at Severine, to which he just shrugged and continued what he was doing. Feanor thrust the hand not held out at Wulfe and the vines to the side, barking words in a language I didn't know, and the floor began to crack and splinter, before it exploded in a shower of splinters as a giant flower bud erupted from the ground. A line appeared in the center and it split open, revealing the toothy maw of Feanor's companion. The plant creature's vines flew out to wrap around all of us and attempt to pull each other off of one another, and not succeeding in doing anything other than annoy us. It was then the Vex had the brilliant idea to cast his lightning hands spell thing on the vines wrapped around him, and for some odd reason, the electrical current went through the vines like wire. Which meant that it electrocuted all of us (Vex himself included).

That was exactly how we looked-Wulfe, tied to the ground by vines Feanor created and getting the shit beaten out of him by Severine, who was being pulled at by me to get her off, while I was attacking Vex for insulting Callidus because he was sitting on top of Vex's head and doing the best he could to annoy the shit out of him. All the while, we are all wrapped up in vines from the giant plant monster that tore itself out of the ground and all of us completely blackened from electricity-when the door opened and three of the most important people in Sandpoint-Father Zantus, Sheriff Hemlock, and Mayor Deverin- walked in with an unknown elven companion.

We're not the most professional group of town-saving heroes are we?

Sheriff Hemlock sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head at the scene laid out before him. "Would everyone release each other and act like civil, mature adults?" We all shared a glance before quickly releasing each other (Feanor using his vines to lift Wulfe to his feet before releasing him) and attempted to make ourselves presentable, only for us all to look sharply behind us as we heard the sound of liquid splatting onto the group and sizzling, the fucking plant was drooling acid onto the floor.

" _Tá tú ag a dhíbhe Athair Dúlra_ " Feanor shouted at the plant being in some other dialect (the firm steel in his voice surprising me considering the elf's usual calm nature), and it immediately burrowed _another_ hole into the ground and left the vicinity. Feanor looked at the Mayor apologetically, "I apologize sister, I shall gladly aid in the repairs of the room should you ask it of me."

The Mayor, a heavier set, middle aged woman on the shorter end of the spectrum, blinked a couple times at the tall man and quirked her head to the side slightly, a look of confusion in her kind eyes, "N-no, that won't be necessary. I have been meaning to remodel in this room for quite some time now," she waved a hand and observed the mess left behind from Feanor's companion, "I suppose I now have a reason to stop putting it off." She looked back up at Feanor, the confusion taking the foreground, "I do have to ask however...you called me 'sister', you don't strike me as a member of any clergy, I apologize for my bluntness, but what exactly do you mean by that?" Feanor chuckled, obviously used to this kind of response.

"I was raised to believe that most races and species are given the gift of life from Mother Nature herself." He walked over to a potted plant, wilted and browning, the plant was fast approaching its end. He gently placed his hands on the petals of the flower and ran his fingers over them lightly almost like a father would caress the face of his newborn child. "Although we all have our own mothers and fathers, we are all still siblings in the eyes of The Lady. Thus you and I are siblings, if not in blood but in inheritance." Right before our eyes the flower began to straighten up, the stem returning green and the petals regaining their vibrant color. "For we are Her chosen, and we are the ones responsible for her care. We are their caretakers," He gently patted the top of the flower, which seemed to almost glow with more vibrant color at the sign of affection from the Druid. "As one day we will find that we must rely on the earth to aid us in our need, and if there is naught but ash and dust left, then ash and dust will be all that comes to our aid." He smiled enigmatically, a glint in his eye, and looked back at Mayor Deverin, "I trust you understand?" She frowned slightly, uncertainty flashing in her eyes.

"I suppose?" She replied questioningly. Wulfe took a few steps forward and stooped over, stage whispering into her ear.

"It's okay, I don't really get all that whole 'whoo nature' shit either, and I'm the poor fucks brother." Feanor let out a sigh, hanging his head before pulling Wulfe back into line. Father Zantus let out a small chuckle, and Sheriff Hemlock pinched his nose harder and sighed louder,

"If we are done with all the 'zany antics'," He gestured in our general direction, "we have business to take care of. Kendra? Would you please take us to your meeting room?" Mayor Deverin nodded her head and left the room, waving her hand and saying; "Follow me."

She led us to another room with very little decorations. Square, slightly cramped, and quite bare,the most prominent feature in the room was the long table in the center, and the miniature sculpture of a winged horse-demon-thing sitting on one of the bookshelves. There were chairs already arranged around the table, a slightly higher quality one set up at the end farthest from the door. That was the seat the mayor took, and she was followed shortly by Father Zantus and Sheriff Hemlock who sat to her left and right. She motioned her hand to the seats and we all sat down (Severine and Wulfe purposefully kept as far away from one another as possible). Hemlock removed his helmet and set it upon the table, and I followed suit. He took a moment to run his fingers through his hair and gather his thoughts before he looked up at us with stern eyes.

"Listen here, the town is very thankful for what you've done, as am I. I doubt that my men would have been able to put a stop to the ruckus in the short amount of time it took you. That being said however, I am sorely disappointed with what I've seen of you folk outside of battle. After seeing how well you fought together and the amount of carnage you left in your wakes I was certain that you were like a well oiled machine. It's clear to me now that that's very far from the truth." I noticed Severine and Wulfe glaring at one another, silently blaming the other person for this 'lack of cohesion'. I smack my fist against the table and jerk my head towards the sheriff when the two of them turned to face me. Sheriff Hemlock didn't seem amused in the slightest.

"I fear you may be pronouncing judgement upon them too early young Belor." The Father reached his hand across the table and gently sat it on top of one of one of Hemlock's clenched fists. "Judging by their behavior, they are companions of chance, not choice. While some among them seem to have known each other prior to meeting," he looked at Callidus and I, "others seem not to have the foggiest as to the identities of their fellows-or even care to know." The last remark was sent towards the bickering couple, who believed their under-the-table kicking war had slipped by our notice. I kicked them both in the shins.

With my metal boots.

That got them to shut up.

Hemlock sighed again (it was then that I got the feeling that we'd be making him do that many times in the future) and looked me in the eyes. "I've got a few jobs for you all while my men wrap up other issues with the goblins. Think of them as quality assurance tests, things to make me feel comfortable letting you guys stick around." I gave a once over of the group. Vex seemed disinterested in the situation (or at least that's what I could glean from him. You know. Hood). Feanor sat attentively, face passive and eyes dull yet focused. Wulfe was idly tracing patterns into the tablecloth with his index finger, his other arm propping up his head, while Severine periodically switched from checking her nails to crossing her arms. Callidus was paying no attention whatsoever. I doubt I would have been able to get him to recite even the last three words spoken. All in all, not really a group I'd say ready to prove themselves.

But it was a start.

"Whatever you've got for us, we can accomplish." The raspy voice of Vex echoed out of his hood, quiet and pensive. The sheriff smiled slightly.

"That's what I like to hear." He tossed a small stack of papers on the table, "Here are the jobs, I had guardsmen write them down as they came in. Feel free to divvy up whatever job to whichever person. I personally don't care who does what, so long as it gets done by nightfall." Likely seven o'clock then. Sheriff Hemlock grabbed his helmet and placed it back upon his head and stood up. "I have a lot of work to do making sure all the bastards are run out of town and making sure the peace is kept, so I must beg of you my leave." He nodded towards Zantus, who smiled and nodded back, "Father." He bowed slightly in the mayor's direction. "Kendra." With that he turned on his heel and marched out of the house.

* * *

I blinked a few times, just now registering Vex's fingers snapping in my face. I shook my head for a moment, banishing any remaining flashbacks waiting their turn to momentarily distract me. "Ah, yes, of course, that we do." I cleared my throat in an attempt to compose myself. I'm pretty sure it didn't work. "I took some time to peruse the rest of the odd jobs Hemlock wished for us to take on while I waited for everyone to finish their initial duties. How was the forest patrol Feanor?" I took the initiative immediately after we were given the stack of assignments, assigning partners as well as giving out assignments that ensured Wulfe and Severine would be kept separate for as long as I possibly could. Naturally the two elven brothers were paired together and were tasked with ensuring the goblin forces had left the forests immediately outside of the town. Vex and Severine (I have no idea if they actually know each other, I just assumed that since they work well together already, why mess with what works?) were given an intown patrol, supplementing the guards as they were busy calming the populace and helping fix the main courtyard. That left Callidus and I working the most mind-numbing of all the jobs-

"Quiet, the trees knew nothing of where the goblins had come from, but they said they felt their roots touch upon creatures deep below them at some point." The elf with eyes of lavender seemed pensive, I rubbed my chin in thought.

"So they escaped through tunnels? How come no one thought to check any tunnels running under the town?" Vex coughed lightly to get my attention.  
"Perhaps no one knew they existed. Or they did, but lower levels were unknown to them, and the goblins fled through these unknown ones." I frowned and considered his words, that would definitely provide an explanation as to how the goblins managed to sneak such a large force into the town without anyone noticing. "What of you Daerion," Vex began, his unseen gaze locked onto me, "did you and the halfling find whatever the goblins mentioned within the cemetery?"

Following the routing of the enemy, any goblins that hadn't been killed by their own antics (a startlingly small number, almost ten of them) were rounded up and taken for questioning. Despite intense bravado and lots of childlike insults hurled in broken common, their mental resilience broke the moment the lead interrogator accidentally dropped his toothbrush from his pocket. I suppose to a bunch of creatures with no idea what hygeine is, such an instrument would strike fear in their hearts. Needless to say they began spilling all their dirty secrets which, unfortunately, were mostly irrelevant details regarding other goblins. However, one goblin did speak about "the boss wanting somethin' in the body-bury place." When questioned about the identity of their boss, none of the goblins seemed to know anything other than that "She's a big ol' longshank like that rest of ya!"

Callidus and I investigated the graveyard after we all parted ways to head towards our respective assignments. We searched that fucking graveyard at least four times. First we did a perimeter sweep to determine if there were any gaps in the crude walls fencing off the cemetery. Then we walked up and down the rows of gravestones, looking for any irregularities. After that we canvassed the few mausoleums kept at the back of the graveyard. Finally, in desperation, we began to read EACH AND EVERY FUCKING TOMBSTONE searching for some damn clue. Of course, I say "we" but I really mean "I" because Callidus was no help whatsoever. Oh sure, he "noticed" a lot of things, and every one of them was something he looked at funny. Hell, halfway through he started "noticing" the same damn things he had before, making me really consider his sanity. Far more than I already do. It also doesn't help that I'm pretty sure he can't read. Or if he can, he can barely pronounce words. He thought he found three tombstones that all said "Secret Passage" on them, when really he found a cluster of graves from the Pas-Ajey family, Secrete Sr., Secrete Jr., and Secrete III to be precise.

I got really good at searching graveyards, let me tell you.

"Oh, you know. It was a graveyard, very creepy, all your normal bits. Had to keep Callidus from defacing the graves, also had to teach him the difference between desiccated and defecated. The usual." I nonchalantly answered, glossing over the grueling, boring hell I underwent for the past four hours. "And you Vex, did you and Severine discover anything while on-"

I was interrupted by the door slamming open and a man bellowed in a language I didn't recognize. What surprised me was Amieko, the barkeep and owner of the tavern, darting into the kitchen behind the bar almost as soon as the man entered. The man stalked further into the room, eyes of the entire tavern upon him and everyone momentarily quiet. Even Callidus wasn't talking, whether that was because he was halfway through his seventh tankard of ale or because he was genuinely shocked into silence, I don't care to know.

The man gazed about the room, slanted and exotic eyes searching for someone. I couldn't help but groan when his eyes landed on our table.

"So...these are our new 'heroes'." He sneered as he approached us, speaking with a foreign accent, spitting on the ground at the word hero. "Pathetic. You endangered many lives with your 'antics', perhaps next time you will leave the theatrics to the city guard and other...trained professionals," his words had a sharp bite at the word professional and his glare narrowed at us. I noticed Severine and Wulfe (who had been engaged in a silent contest of "who can get Amieko's attention the easiest") had stood up and were making their way to our sides, Severine with her hands clenched as fists, and Wulfe with his slouching gait. Even Callidus was approaching us, although his intentions were likely more questionable than the first two.

"Just who do you think you are? This town has no need of any self-styled 'heroes', we can take care of ourselves just fine." The man snarled, getting worked up despite not having been given a response.

Upon arriving at the table, Wulfe pulled a chair from a nearby, empty table and flopped down onto it, he planted a foot on the edge of the table and pushed, so his chair was tilted, picking up a tankard from the table he inclined it in the man's direction. "I'm pretty sure heroes were exactly what this town needed, and we happen to be grade A heroes." Vex gave a snort and shook his head, but the man seemed to become enraged with Wulfe's flippant attitude.

"Do you have any idea who I am!?" the man roared, "I am Lonjiku Kaijitsu, and I am nobility in this town." Wulfe groaned in a highly theatrical manner.

"Oh bite me you shrivelled up son of a whore-hey!" He glared at Severine, who cuffed him on the ear for that statement. Neither of them paying attention to the growing fury that was Lonjiku,

" You will treat me with the respect my higher social class grants me! You are maggots beneath my feet, all of you! I demand respect!" Before any one of us could begin to yell back, or worse, start a bar brawl, the door to the kitchen burst open and Ameiko re-entered the tavern, a soup pot in the crook of her arm and a ladle in her hand.

"What in the nine hells is going on in here!" She glared at people in room, searching for whoever was causing the ruckus, her eyes quickly landed on Lonjiku. "You. I thought you had left by now. What business do you have coming in here, disrupting my customers' dinner, yelling at the town's heroes, and making everyone uncomfortable? You have no right!" Lonjiku raised his voice and began to yell in the same foreign language he first talked in. He got maybe two words in before Amieko cut him off, "No! You have no right to barge in here, disrupting my business and talk to me in Minkaian. If you want to speak to me, do it in common. I know you're too much of a damn coward to do anything that might risk your 'precious status'." A lot of the people who populated the tavern began to relax as Amieko verbally fenced with the belligerent man, and a few even cheered at Amieko's last statement.

I'll tell you what, that lady could work a crowd just as well as she could cook.

Lonjiku sneered at his daughter and drew himself up, attempting to look down at the woman who was several inches taller than him, "I have decided we are moving back to Magnimar to upkeep the business we left behind there." Amieko snorted and waved her hand in a dismissive motion.

"Very well, goodbye then, enjoy the trip." Lonjiku's face twisted into a snarl.

"As head of the Kaijitsu family my word is law to you. If I say you are to follow me to Magnimar then you will follow with glee!" His snarl settled into an arrogant smirk, "Unless of course you'd rather stay here and tend to your inn."

"Alright, good. I'm staying. Goodbye now." Amieko snapped in response.

"If you stay, then I am cutting of any chance of you collecting your inheritance when I pass." Amieko's eyes narrowed, a steely glint in the brown orbs.

"I want you to get the fuck out of my tavern right now you dirty old bat. How dare you!? How dare you!? This is my home, this is my life! You have no right to force me away from here, you can't take me anywhere!" From there she switched into Minkaian. I have no way of knowing what she said, but judging by how Lonjiqu's face slowly became the color of heated iron, it wasn't something you repeat in polite company. With a roar, the small man stormed up too Amieko, his hand shooting up towards her head. Vex and I stood up and made to stop him while Wulfe drew his hand crossbow with blinding speed, but before we could do anything, Amieko sidestepped the man and smacked his head hard with the soup ladle. He screamed as a hot soup scalded his neck and back, stumbling away from her. Reaching the door, he stood and stared back at Amieko, hatred clear in his eyes.

"You're as dead to me as your mother." He spat on the ground and stormed out. People gasped, evidently that was not a polite response. Shocker. Amieko seemed to be holding back tears as she straightened herself and picked a hair out of the ladle. Schooling herself and putting on a false smile, she held the hair up.

"I'll need a well-cleaned ladle now, since jackass stew's not on the menu." Her comment drew laughter out of most of the patrons, a chuckle from myself even, and she smiled with sincerity. Wulfe and Severine made to talk with her, whether to continue their previous competition or because of genuine concern, I will never know. Slowly but surely everyone returned to their usual business as I idly stirred my soup, mourning the dish that had now become cold. I looked up after several minutes at the thud of something striking the floor.

Apparently, while on his eleventh tankard of ale, Wulfe decided Callidus was a very easy way to earn some money. So he challenged the pint sized man to a drinking contest. They both put up fifty gold pieces and began to slam back drink after drink. Wulfe had just finished his seventeenth mug (thus Callidus was at twenty-eight) and began to wobble atop his bar-stool. His last few words of drunken speech before he collapsed to the floor would live on in infamy within The Rusty Dragon:

"You li'l bish! Ya spiked my ale wi' more ale." Many of those who had been watching the contest took up a cheer, Callidus grabbed the coins and immediately put them to use by buying more ale.

"A round of your best ale for everyone!" The tiny man shouted, immediately spinning in his chair to look at me, an unspoken plea in his eyes. I sighed and untied my coin purse from my waist, throwing it at him, mourning its loss as it flew through the air. Callidus, of course, caught it easily and practically flipped in his chair to hand it all to Amieko. I sighed again, much more heavily.

It was gonna be a long night.

* * *

I awoke as the sun began to crest over the horizon, yawning and stretching any muscles that were stiff from awkward sleeping posture. The beds had been far more luxurious than I had expected, I almost regretted having to wake up. I dropped to the floor after a moment and engaged in my standard morning warm up. After spending about half an hour working each part of my body, keeping my muscles nice and limber, I equipped my armor, strapping my sword (in its sheath) to my waist and hooking my shield to its easily-removable latch on my back.

I walked down to the now almost empty common room, the only people still there were leftovers from last night-those who hadn't been able to stumble their way back to their rooms and decided the floor looked comfortable enough. Unsurprisingly, Callidus counted among their number, surrounded by exactly thirty-seven empty tankards. Yes, I did count. I always count. Unless he beats his record of forty-eight and a half pints then he visits the horse trough as a wake-up call. Then again, he gets thrown in the trough no matter how much he drinks.

What? It brings me immense happiness to throw the half-pint into freshly drawn, freezing cold water.

Grabbing Callidus I made for the door, passing Vex-who was coming into the tavern-on the way. It surprised me that anyone would be getting up before me in this group, but I suppose that out of anyone, the taciturn and rather surly man would be the one to beat my early riser streak. He was breathing heavier than normal as well, but in a controlled manner showing that he didn't want people to notice. Had I not been used to training soldiers and fighting with/against people who didn't wish to let their fatigue show, I might not have noticed. So he was up early undergoing heavy training. My eyes subconsciously narrowed as I made my way to the stables near the southern entrance to the village. He went to bed the same time as I, how could he possibly have enough energy to awake early, train, and still have enough magical energy on reserve to cast spells. I may not be a spellcaster myself, but even I know that a magic users greatest weakness is their limited reserves of mana to use for their spells.

I waved off my suspicion, the man proved himself capable during the attempted raid on the town, he was entitled to his secrets. So long as they didn't become dangerous to the rest of us. I tossed Callidus into the trough upon arriving, wiping my hands off and chuckling at the his sputtering, I bet waking up to being submerged in freezing cold water is quite the shock. I meandered over to my horse, Ace. A large gray horse, mottled with small black spots here and there, I took care to groom him and tip the stableboy as Callidus climbed out of the trough and made his way back to the Rusty Dragon. No matter how many times it had happened, Callidus never seemed to get mad or annoyed at me dunking him. I grabbed him by the collar before he could get too far away.

"Oh no you don't, I've already decided on our job for today, the others will just have to fight over the remaining details amongst themselves. You and I are going on a nice calming patrol around the village while the guard…" I sighed, Callidus' eyes glazed over about halfway through my sentence. "Patrol. You, me, no alcohol. Whatsoever." I walked away as Callidus erupted into a long string of profanities hurled in a rather high-pitched voice. I knew eventually he'd run out of breath and would go silent, crafting a plot for revenge he would inevitably forget, and then, sweet, soothing silence.

* * *

 _~Back at the Rusty Dragon~_

Vex looked up from the parchment he had been scribing on when Feanor sat across from him, two small cups of tea in his hands. He silently slid one across the table and Vex gave a nod of appreciation as he caught it and blew on the steaming liquid.

"It appears Daerion has left it up to the rest of us to divvy up the workload and assemble our teams." Vex drawled, taking a sip of his tea and applying his inkpen to the aged parchment once more.

"So it would seem. Were you, perhaps, awaiting Severine to partner with her again?" Vex snorted and looked up at him, gaze unseen.

"It's nearly nine o'clock already, if she isn't up now I assume she won't be up for another few hours. I'd rather get my jobs done early if I could." Feanor shook his head.

"I know Wulfe, he does not wake before the sun has passed its apex in the sky. 'Highlights his beautiful side' as he claims. I also happen to share your wish to fulfill my duties before most of the day has elapsed. Would you like to partner?" Vex gave him-what he assumed to be-an incredulous look.

"And leave those two to work together to finish the final job? All that forest food has driven you absolutely mad."

"It would be a good learning experience for them both, they need to learn to work together if we are to continue to operate as a single group. Besides, I vaguely recall how irritated you were that the girl never seems to shut up about anything, did I perhaps imagine it and you'd rather work with her for another day?" Vex straightened and grabbed the loose papers on the table. Standing up he nodded towards Feanor.

"Let us get started right away then," Slamming back the still hot tea, he set the empty cup on the table and made for the door, "Quick! We must be away before either of the two wake up and begin their ceaseless bitching!"

* * *

 _~At One PM Precisely~_

Wulfe smacked his lips and yawned as he made his way downstairs, sitting at the bar and spending a large amount of gold for a fairly large luncheon. His head still throbbed from last night, but it was definitely a lot better than it would have been had he awoken at the gods forsaken hour his brother called "reasonable". Speaking of his brother, Wulfe was surprised to note he was nowhere to be seen. Now Wulfe may be a little self-centered, but he is by no means stupid, so it took him very little time to assume the druid had teamed up with someone else and went on his way to fulfill whatever jobs remained.

Looking around some more, Wulfe concluded that since Callidus was nowhere to be seen, he and the Tin-Man must be partners, and McCloak-Face was also gone, that was who ran off with his brother. Counting off on his fingers he realized there was only one possible person he could have been stuck with.

"Ah hell no. I can't fucking believe they would stick me with that insufferable bitch!" It was when someone said "asshole" at the same time he said "bitch" that Wulfe registered there was another voice mirroring his sentence almost verbatim. Spinning in his stool to face the other direction he locked eyes with Severine, and she glared at him in return.

"So I see I got stuck with the babysitting job huh? Sorry but I don't watch little kids who aren't potty trained yet." Severine remarked, with a cool smile on her face. Wulfe sputtered, frantically thinking of a retort.

"Yeah well, you're stupid!" He inwardly groaned at his own response.

"Oh good come-back jackass. Alright, fine, let's just get this bullshit out of the way alright?" Severine picked up the file Daerion left on the table Amieko had reserved for them ("Town heroes eat and sleep here for free!" she had said), frowning when she saw they were stuck with a sweep of the town's garbage pile.

"Oh hell no. I'm not fucking working with you. You can go ahead and get that job done on your own, I'll find something else to do to help out around here!" Wulfe shouted and barged out of the tavern. Severine banged her head against the table.

"Why do I get stuck with the icky job?"

* * *

 _(Daerion's P.O.V)_

Well, my plan to keep Callidus quiet lasted about an hour. We were tasked with helping repair the many houses that had suffered damage (ranging from superficial to a single, abandoned house that had been collapsed) and, unfortunately, one of the places we repaired just had to be the local brewery. The owner, a retired paladin that was a brother to the mayor, decided it was prudent to pay us for our labor by letting us leave with a free tankard of ale each. That was all it took, one tankard and the little halfling's mouth was off like a racehorse. By the gods, for such a little man with an even smaller brain, he just never exhausted his supply of inane topics to babble on about! From what I heard from Vex, I should try and pawn him off on Severine, perhaps they would both find someone they could talk to in each other. Of course, Callidus is my responsibility, unfortunately, and honor dictates I can't just pawn him off on someone else.

We patrolled for another hour, waiting for another person to flag us down for repairs, when Callidus burst into song. Song! I punched him in the shoulder and thought of clamping my hand on his mouth, but I knew he would either bite me, or slobber on my hand, so I forced myself to simply ignore him as he sang about heroism and Cayden Cailean. The little gremlin had recently developed a fascination in the god, no surprise there, he embodies heroism, bravado, and drinking.

The god does too.

I suppose I should be glad the crazy little halfling had joined some kind of formal church, the gods know that he needs more rules and guidelines in his life, but the faith of the drunk god is anything but formal. Their churches are taverns! They don't even have to be specific taverns or taverns that have been "blessed", so long as it serves beer, it's holy ground. I wish I had Ace with me; some rope, a ripped piece of cloth, and some more rope would have him tied to my horse with a gag in his mouth in no time, giving me peace. I let the thoughts of torturing Callidus in such a way soothe me as his song garnered much attention from the locals. Unfortunately for me, no one seemed to be in any mood to stop the trickster, they were content to listen to his song and let him be him. It's that damn hero thing they've been talking about! I swear!

After two- _fucking-_ hours of his horrid attempt at song, Callidus finally gave my ears a chance to stop bleeding. How the hell can he sing at such high pitches? How can I even hear such high pitches? I was sure we crossed some kind of threshold when a few dogs started howling in pain but I could STILL hear it. I was torn out of my thoughts (damn, I really need to stop getting lost in my thoughts, it's not good for my health) by the sound of a soft voice trying to get my attention.

Before me stood a woman, no more than twenty years of age. Crimson colored hair hung past her shoulders, natural curls here and there and several unruly strands of hair sticking out made it look like her face was framed by wildfire. Her bodice was cut just a tad bit lower than I think commonly accepted, but I refrained from focusing on her bosom so everything was okay. She had a shy smile on her face, something a rogue thought said looked very cute on her.

"Ser Daerion? I am in need of some assistance, could you please help me?"

"Of course, milady. Callidus and I would be happy to help, what seems to be the problems?" She blushed and looked down. I quirked an eyebrow and looked at Callidus, who shrugged.

"Even before the goblin raid, my father has been very busy, and now he's even busier helping with all the repairs and supplying everyone. Oh, my father is the owner of the general store." She said, seeing the confusion on our faces, "He hasn't had the time to check the traps in the basement and now it's been overrun by rats!" I nodded and sighed inwardly.

"I see, unfortunately mila-"

"Shayliss" Was all she said. I nodded again.

"Unfortunately Shayliss, my friend and I are very busy helping with repairs, I'm sure there are many people around here who would be willing to deal with a rat problem." I started to walk past her but she grabbed at my arm.

"No Ser! You don't understand! These rats, they're huge! I saw several bigger than a house cat, and at least two the size of a dog!" I stopped and turned to her. Rats were one thing, but this sounded like dire rats, a completely different, and much bigger, problem.

"Lead us to the general store, Callidus and-"

"No Ser," Shayliss interrupted, "I'm afraid our basement is very small, there would only be enough room for one person, and those rats might outnumber and overwhelm your...smaller friend." I rubbed my chin in thought.

"Very well, lead us to the general store, Callidus, you wait outside while I deal with the rats." Shayliss led us a short distance until we arrived at a rather humble store. Made completely out of wood, with windows to the ground floor and a few basement windows. I got down and peered through a window to the basement. "I don't see any rats Shayliss."

"They like to hide in the walls until someone goes down there. I think they're hungry and there's not enough to eat. I can't believe that they can squeeze into the walls despite their size though!" She exclaimed. I hummed and made to enter the building. I told Callidus to stay put and I made my way to the door Shayliss said led to the basement, her trailing right behind me. She closed the door behind her once we both had entered, I assume to keep any rats from running up and into the store proper when we weren't looking.

It wasn't until I reached the bottom of the stairs and had walked into the center of the room that I realized something.

"Shayliss, where are all the rats?" I asked her, still peering at the walls in front of me.

"There are no rats Daerion." I turned to ask her why she brought me down here then just in time to see her bodice hit the floor.

Oh my.

* * *

 _~Back on the Street~_

Wulfe was still seething from his little spat with Severine, but had calmed down considerably. He was currently prowling the streets, one hand stuffed in his pocket, the other munching on a fresh loaf of bread he had been given for free. Man, this hero business really suits him! Sure beats being a bandit. At least now people give you their stuff WITHOUT you having to be all forceful and shit. He had been wandering for the better part of half an hour when he noticed Callidus standing in front of a building, looking bored as all hell.

"Hey Cal! Where's Daerion?" Callidus glared at him childishly for Wulfe's abbreviation of his name before making a bored groan.

"He's inside dealing with a rat problem. Wulfe, I'm so bored!" He cried, dragging out the so. Wulfe looked at him and shrugged.

"If he wants you to like, stand guard or something, I'll do it for you so you can go and have fun." With a cheer, Callidus ran off towards the nearest tavern/inn/any place that served alcohol. Slouching against the wall, Wulfe sighed and looked around, scanning for any "suspicious activity". Anything beat having to work with Severine, but this was boring, he really felt for the hyperactive halfling who had this job before him. It was then that a thought occurred to him. What about this "rat problem" warranted Cal having to guard the store? Striding over to one of the windows, Wulfe dropped down and peered through. It took his elven eyes only a few seconds to adjust to the darkness of the basement, and when he finally saw what was going on, well, "Daerion, you sly dog you." he chuckled, reaching into his back pocket for a recently purchased notepad. He took hasty notes as he chuckled lecherously.

His attention was so focused on the passionate sex being had in the basement that Wulfe almost missed when this huge bear of a man walked into the store, apparently not having seen him. He panicked for a moment, jamming the notepad back into his pocket and frantically thought of a way to get Daerion's attention. He knocked on the window hard several times and then darted away. Stuffing his hands back into his pockets he slowed his run to a calm stroll as he walked away.

"Daerion, you're so lucky you had me as your wingman." He whistled a jaunty tune and left the scene of the crime, confident he gave the stern man enough time to avoid being caught with his pants down.

Both figuratively, and literally.

* * *

 _(Daerion's P.O.V)_

The sound of someone knocking on one of the windows caused me to break away from Shayliss. It wasn't until I heard the dull thumps of someone upstairs that I realised someone had been trying to warn us. Rushing over to my discarded pantaloons, I hastily tried to put them back on even as Shayliss tried to get her dress and bodice back on. I had finally got my shirt and pants on (my chainmail lay folded on a table), and was assisting Shayliss with lacing up her bodice when the door to the basement opened.

Irregardless of our now presentable state of dress, the healthy flush both Shayliss and I had and the odd odor that tinged the air if someone breathed deeply enough served as incriminating evidence of what we had just been doing.

Down the stairs came the largest man I had ever seen. I stand at least six feet tall, but this man was a full head taller. He was quite possibly just as tall as Vex, and just barely shorter than Wulfe. He was burly as well, large, muscled arms heavily tanned from work and a dark, bushy beard accented his weathered face. He got to the bottom of the stairs and saw us. I saw many emotions flash through his eyes, surprise, suspicion, worry, and, when his eyes finally laid to rest on me, anger.

"What in the nine hells was going on in here!?" The man roared, I felt myself subconsciously flinch, but whoever warned us gave me a significant advantage; I could let my words do the talking rather than my fists.

"I know it looks bad sir-"

"Looks bad? Looks bad!? Boy do you understand what goes through a man's head when he finds some ragamuffin in the basement with his youngest daughter, all flushed and without his armor?" He flung his words towards me with a significant amount of acid behind them.

"I understand sir, and this is all just a big misunderstanding-"

"Oh, and just what about this situation is not to my understanding huh? 'Cause it sure looks to me like you defiled my daughter's-"

"Now see here sir, nothing of your daughter's was defiled in any way. She said that she saw a bunch of rats down here, and that you were far too busy to deal with them. So she asked me to come down here and take a look. Since I had just finished repairing the _Two Knight Brewery_ and was looking for another building in need of repairs, I thought I could spare some time for the poor maiden." I tried to handle this as diplomatically as possible. I doubt anything I could say would have him laughing and bringing me upstairs for drinks, but if I could get out of this without having to knock some teeth out (or have teeth knocked out), I would be very glad.

"Oh yeah, sure. Just some rats. Then why's your armor all folded up nice on the table?"

"Sir, they're rats, they'd be attracted to the glinting light of the armor. As you can see, we have the armor set where the light comes right down on it, it attracts the attention of the rats and then we try to capture them.

"And why the hell are you so flushed?"

"The rats gave us quite the chase, they ran back into their homes before we could get to any of them." The man seemed pensive for a moment, believing he hadn't caught us doing what we actually HAD been doing. I thought I was going to get out of this without even a harsh word when the man's eyes hardened again.

"Get the hell out of my store, and stay the fuck away from my daughter! You hear me!?" I did as he asked, grabbing my armor, sword, and shield and made my way out of the general store. I was one the front steps when Shayliss stopped me to whisper in my ear.

"That was fun, but perhaps next time we can meet somewhere for a meal? Do not talk to me until then, we cannot let my father know." A very slight nod was the only sign I gave to show I had heard her.

Perhaps I would take her up on her offer sometime.

* * *

Tracking Callidus to the nearest source of alcohol was not a challenge, nor was dragging him back to the Rusty Dragon. What was a challenge, however, was keeping myself from sighing upon entering and feeling my ears being assaulted by raised voices.

"-believe you would leave me to deal with that pig! I thought we had reach some kind of blighted understanding and then you turn around and ditch me! How do you think that made me feel!?" Unsurprisingly, Severine was one of the parties involved with the yelling. Surprisingly though, Wulfe was not the other. No, Vex seemed to have drawn the ire of the white-haired woman (it was that moment that I realized that, apart from Vex, Callidus and I were the only members of our band without hair a shade of white). Very surprising was the fact that Vex's hands seemed curled into fists, it seemed the usually patient man was at wits end.

"I mean, it's bad enough you kept trying to show me up during the goblin raid, and that you flat out ignored me for our entire patrol yesterday, but this is a whole new level of terrible, even for you Mr. 'I have a stick shoved so far up my butt I practically choke on it'!" Apparently, Severine finally broke through Vex's patience.

"Enough!" He roared, stunning most of the room into silence. Frankly, I was shocked a man with such a raspy, dehydrated voice could shout so loud without coughing up blood. "I have had enough of your asinine drivel! You act like a spoiled, pampered little brat and I am absolutely sick of it! You treat everything as if it were a game, yelling at me and making a scene in the middle of a public venue over absolutely nothing. 'Kept trying to show me up' my ass. Do you not understand what happened? Do you not understand what was at stake!?" The man slammed his fist on the table, "Innocent people could have died! Would have died too if it hadn't been for us. For you to treat such a serious situation as some kind of joke is childish! I left you behind because I have had enough of your childish attitude and your idiotic way of thinking. Now leave me be woman! Some of us have productive work to accomplish."

I watched as Severine clenched her teeth and, after a moment of glaring hatefully at the cloaked man, spun on her heel, flopping into a barstool and huffing. A tense air filled the room as I led Callidus to the reserved table and sat next to Vex. People slowly began to return to their conversations, but I suspected news of the argument would spread like wildfire in the town. Great, I'm sure this will serve as amazing news to comfort Hemlock's fears. I can feel his opinion of us dropping by the second.

"So, uh, what was that all about?" I asked, nudging the now, once again, quiet man. He gave a very long sigh (I was right about my earlier observation; sighing seems to be a very common theme surrounding this group we've formed.) and looked down at the paper he had been scratching notes on (curiously, the notepad already was full of writing, Vex seemed to simply be editing. I mentally shrugged, it wasn't any of my business.)

"Severine took offence to Feanor and I partnering for the day's duties. I left her with Wulfe." He laughed ruefully, "I thought it might teach them to get along better, or perhaps teach one of them a lesson in humility," He looked up at me, "I figured one of them would eventually get so sick of the pointless squabbling, they'd swallow their pride and just let it go. Apparently, they didn't even make it out of the door before Wulfe decided to leave her alone to get the jobs done. So she's had the last half an hour or so to think up exactly what to say when I inevitably showed up."

I looked at the woman who was trying-and failing-to be subtle about the looks she was sending Vex's way. I saw annoyance and, if I wasn't mistaken, a slight amount of regret? "Would you like me to try and sort this out with her?" The man was about to wave it off when a grandiose voice rang out from the stairs.

"Oh heavens! I cannot stand to see two friends in the midst of a quarrel." Aldern uttered from the middle of the stairs. His hands gestured towards both Severine and Vex, but his eyes did not shift from the girl. "I know just what it is you need to help thaw this frosty mood between the two of you!" He grabbed Severine by the shoulder and led her to the table. He attempted to wrap his arm around Vex's shoulder too, but the man brushed him off quickly. I didn't miss the angry glare Severine threw at him, nor the fact that she seemed to bring herself closer to the nobleman. "Gather all of your compatriots, we are going on a boar hunt!" Vex brought his hands up into his hood and, I assume, rubbed his eyes with his palms in a tired manner. Severine grinned and cheered in a very forced manner (which Aldern did not seem to notice in the slightest, in fact, he seemed to smile wider at her "enthusiasm"), while Callidus cheered just because people were cheering.

"Vex, do you happen to know where Feanor and Wulfe are?" I asked the man who seemed to want to be anywhere but there.

"Feanor said he was going to…'play' with that plant of his just outside of town. Wulfe is...Wulfe is wherever Wulfe goes once he wakes up." I nodded and stood, grabbing Callidus as I walked out the door. "I'll be back once I find the two of them."

In hindsight, it was unsurprising that Feanor would decline the invitation for boar hunting, the quiet man seemed very at peace while poking spots on the his giant plant companions bulbous head. I have no idea what he was doing, only that it left the carnivorous plants tongue lolling out of its head, acid dripping out in sickly green strands. He seemed very distracted as he gave me a curt "It would not be appropriate" before making it very clear to me that I had intruded in some kind of private situation. I left feeling vaguely uncomfortable. Then I had to return when I realised Callidus had stuck around to try and drink some of the damn acid dripping out of the things mouth.

Wulfe was all for boar hunting. He said it sounded like a hell of a time. Of course, he had a lot of trepidation for a moment when he asked me if Severine was going, and he groaned quite loudly when I informed him that indeed, she was accompanying us.

"I wouldn't worry so much about Severine this time, the focus of all her ire seems to be Vex this time." Wulfe looked at me with the oddest expression.

"You mean I won't get dragged into any stupid arguments?" I raised an eybrow at him.

"Wulfe, you're just as responsible for your petty bickering as she is."

"But she's usually the one that starts the arguing-"

"Yes. After you've done something to make an ass out of yourself," I interjected, "If you're really so concerned about fighting with her, why don't you try thinking about other people before you just go ahead and do whatever you want." Wulfe, oddly enough, seemed very thoughtful after what I said and walked back to the Rusty Dragon with me in silence.

"There," I began upon entering the tavern, "I've rounded up one of the members of the band of misfits, the other declined the invitation." Wulfe snorted and sat down at the table.

"So...we gonna head out now? Or we just gonna sit around here with our thumbs up our asses commenting on the weather?" Vex blew some air out of his nose and I imagine he rolled his eyes. Severine, oddly enough, actually gave a little laugh at the very tall elf (also, did I imagine it, or did Aldern scowl a little at her laugh while Vex inclined his head slightly more in her direction. Odd). Aldern clapped his hands together.

"Very well my friends! I shall provide horses for us all. Unless, of course, you have one of your own," he gestured at me, "I shall lead our company to the Tickwood, 'tis the best boar hunting ground. I should know, my family has made hunting there a staple of our yearly visits to Sandpoint!" We all stood and followed him to the Goblin Squash Stables south of town.

Leading Ace out the stables, I took a moment to appraise the hunting party. Adlern seemed eager to get going, and had just finished handing spears out to us all. Severine and Vex seemed to still be engaged in their silent argument; only looking at the other when they were sure the other was not looking back. Callidus seemed bored out of his mind, but I knew that he was far too small and easily distracted to actually get involved with the hunt, at worst, he might fall off the horse and get lost. What worried me, however, was the oddest thing I saw when Wulfe received his spear. While he seemed to have no trouble lifting and stabbing with the weapon, quick flashes of pain would cross his eyes whenever he shifted in certain directions, and he seemed stiff with the spear. At odd moments, a flicker of doubt would register on his face before he pushed it away. Completely at odds with the calm and self-assured sharpshooter I had seen during the raid. Mounting up, we followed Aldern into the Sandpoint hinterlands towards the Tickwood.

This would be the first time we had ventured out of the town as a company, and I must say, it really didn't feel any different to leaving the town normally. Aldern seemed personable enough, making small talk with everyone, asking Vex where he had studied and if Severine was a member of any noble family (silence and a no being their respective answers). He did not seem to take much interest in Callidus, Wulfe, or I, but such a thing didn't break my heart. I do not need the attention of nobility to soothe some sense of social inequality. Besides, the man does not carry himself with the same determination of a true warrior, and judging from his actions in the raid, he was quite the coward. In other words, he was not worth my attention either.

The hinterlands are a beautiful place, there is no doubt about that. All rolling fields with many lush forests and a couple of large plateaus jutting out of the ground. I knew first hand now how danger lurked here. Obviously, there are at least a few tribes of goblins that have named this area home, but rumor has it that there is an even more vile creature that dwells somewhere in the countryside. A horse like creature, with large and tattered bat wings, and a maw full of warped and twisted teeth. The creature can breathe fire and is either immortal, or capable of reproduction as no matter how often someone kills it (typically someone claims to have accomplished the deed once every decade), within a few years another one is spotted, but two are never spotted at the same time. This creature has been given the eloquent name of: "The Sandpoint Devil". I'm sure Callidus could have come up with better. Perhaps "The Ripper"?

* * *

 _A man somewhere in Magnimar, trying to drink away the memories sneezed_.

* * *

Or maybe something like "The Silken Sadist"?

* * *

 _A woman halfway through a session of passionate sex with a wealthy bank-owner sneezed._

* * *

Hmm, both of those seem to creative for Callidus to come up with, come to think of it. The second one doesn't even make any sense either. Hmm, I guess naming a monster is harder than I thought.

The Tickwood was almost directly east of Sandpoint, and wasn't a very long ride. The cool autumn breeze felt good against my face as we rode into the rather small forest. Aldern had yet to call a halt, so I simply observed our surroundings as we rode deeper into the forest. Aldern was right, the hunting should be good, I saw quite a few boars out in the woods as we rode in. We eventually reached a clearing and stopped.

"Alright my friends, please be careful," Aldern began, dismounting and grabbing his spear, "the boars in this area are rather small but their tusks still hurt if they get close enough to gore you. Please do not let that happen. You can all feel free to hunt any of the boars in the area, I shall hunt our true prize; the largest boar I have seen in this forest in many years! Severine, would you mind assisting me with my search?" Severine looked at Vex, and huffed when she saw he was still ignoring her.

"Why yes Aldern, I would greatly enjoy your company!" She said with a sickly sweet false smile, a smile Aldern seemed to take as genuine. The rest of us crept into the woods, looking for any boars. Callidus, of course, was glued to my side, whereas Wulfe and Vex both went off in separate directions to hunt. Upon finding one of the hogs, I baited it into charging me. Dropping low and angling my spear just so, the poor bastard drove itself onto my spear, thankfully there was a crossguard on the damn thing or the pig would've been able to drive the spear all the way through its body just to gore me before it died. I pulled my spear out of the boar and imagined the delicious roast Amieko could put together with enough of these. They were quite small though, I was hoping Aldern and Severine were able to find that large one the nobleman had been talking about.

A scream pierced through the forest and only one thought ran through my mind as I ran back towards the clearing; it seems they had found the boar. Severine was already in the clearing before me, obviously running from something. Vex and Wulfe must have journeyed quite far from the clearing, because I was the only one other than Severine to be there. A moment later, the largest boar I had ever seen came bursting into the clearing. Nearly the size of a draft horse, the things tusks were massive and it moved with a speed that did not match its size; it was surely going to run Severine down. I didn't even register my body moving until I was staring right at the boars face, I lifted my spear horizontally in front of me and braced for impact.

The boar slammed against me with immense strength and I swore for a moment that my time on this world was done. I did little to stop the creature, even with all my strength I could only slow it down, and barely that even. I desperately thought of a plan as I heard the wood of the spear creaking and begin to splinter in the middle. I saw a flash of black out of the corner of my eye and prayed I wasn't about to kill someone. I let go of the spear at the same time as I jumped clear of the boar. The spear fell to the ground and was snapped into many pieces and the boar homed in on Severine, who had tried to run perpendicular to the boars original path, as to avoid its ire. I yelled defiantly and tried to get the boar to turn my way but it was set in its path. Not knowing what to do, I charged the beats, hoping to give Severine a moment of time to escape.

I was too slow

The boar was mere feet away from Severine while I still had half of the clearing to cross. I thrust out a hand and shouted her name, desperate for some kind of miracle. Severine had jammed her spear into the ground at a low angle. Perhaps she could take out the boar at the same time it gored her to death, there was no way that spear could kill the thing before it got close enough to hurt her, it was too damn big, and with the size of those tusks, being gored by it could easily tear someone in half. I had given up hope when I saw another flash of black and Severine vanished. She reappeared next to me, held between Vex's arms. He immediately set her down and tried to move toward the boar, but collapsed to one knee. I drew my shield and once again stepped in front of my allies, staring down the hog that was pawing the ground, readying for another charge.

It shot off like a rocket, so I raised my shield and braced myself for impact. I looked away, teeth clenched and my entire body tense when I heard the distinct mechanical twang of a crossbow firing and the pained squeal of a pig. Looking up, past my shield, I saw a single bolt that pierced the damn creatures eye. I turned to see Wulfe, hand crossbow drawn, readying another bolt as the boar veered to the left because of the loss of sight in its right eye.

"That's right you son of a bitch, look at me so I can get another shot. I want you as clean as can be so Amieko can cook you up into something delicious for me to eat," He lined up his next shot, a confident smile on his face, "and boy do you look good." He fired again and his other bolt found its home in the boars other eye. It squealed and raged and bucked around, blindly goring at the air. I hefted my spear, took aim, and threw it when its snout was towards me. Now I'm not nearly as accurate as Wulfe is with his crossbow, or as precise as Callidus with his rapier, but I'm proud to say my spear still hit its face, even if it missed the snout. The second spear, courtesy of Vex hwoever? That one struck true, as did the one I got from Wulfe. It was bleeding heavily around the spears in its face and the bolts in its eyes, and it became very sluggish. Wulfe walked up to me and offered me a hand, to which I gladly slapped for his timely rescue. It wasn't until I heard coughing that I recalled that Vex was injured.

He was still on a single knee, his hand clamped to his unseen mouth. Severine was rubbing his back and talking to him quietly.

"Vex! Are you injured?" I asked, jogging up to him. The tall man stood up, wiping dirt off his knees with both his hands.

"I am fin-"

"He just went and exhausted all his magic reserve again. A spell like that was probably really draining and he probably tapped into the emergency reserve. You know, the supply that any even mediocre magic user knows is there _to keep you alive?"_ She gave him a withering glare as Aldern burst into the clearing.

"Severine! Severine! Oh thank the gods you are alright!" He stopped before her and frantically looked her over, looking for any cuts and bruises. "Were you harmed?" His attention was finally diverted to the boar as it bled out and collapsed to the ground with a loud thump. "I see you were able to take down the beast!"

"Oh, uh, I didn't do that alone, you see my allies here rescu-"

"Oh marvelous!" He interrupted, "This magnificent creature will make for quite the feast. Gentlemen, if you don't mind assisting me with making a makeshift sled to drag behind the horses?" Severine forced Vex to sit down, and by forced I mean she shoved him to the ground when he said he was strong enough to help out. I left them to their little argument.

It took a lot of sticks, and I mean a hell of a lot of sticks, to lash together a sled big enough for the massive pig. After finishing the sled, I noticed that Wulfe was stretching and working some of his muscles, a pained expression on his face.

"Are you hurt Wulfe? Do we need to have Severine look you over as well." The man stiffened and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Nah. Just an old injury botherin' me. You know us elves, we may live a lot longer than you humans, but old injuries are old injuries." He laughed nervously and I just let the topic drop. Moving the boar onto the sled was an adventure all its own, especially since it was basically me and Aldern moving it, Severine too busy with Vex, Wulfe's old wound acting up, and Callidus having finally wandered back into the clearing. It was heavy, it stank like only wild boar could, and Aldern was practically no help at all, but we finally got it on the sled, tied it to the sled, and then tied the sled to the horses. I was certainly glad to leave, but Wulfe's statement from earlier was definitely seconded in my mind; that pig would make one hell of a feast.

* * *

Amieko's eyes practically popped out of her head when she saw the size of the boar we brought home. I told her that I left a much smaller boar behind in the Tickwood if she didn't think this one would be enough but she immediately laughed and told me that we brought back enough boar to feed everyone in the tavern at least twice. She had us bring the boar around back and she immediately began on what she called "the biggest damn meal she had ever fucking made!". We all sat around the inn for the next few hours, nothing really left to do. Wulfe broke out a deck of cards and proved to be quite the cheat, while Feanor (who had rejoined without a word spoken) had inexplicable luck. Severine claimed that Wulfe was stacking the deck in his brothers favor, so he let her deal. Feanor was still unbeatable. Vex refrained from playing. He was interested at first, but once Wulfe proclaimed that wearing his hood was cheating, the man withdrew from the game. Callidus, of course, got bored once he realised rules were involved and proceeded to frequently bring drinks to the table.

Wulfe foolishly believed the six mugs he brought were for the six of us, up until Callidus started slamming back whole pints of ale, one at a time.

We were settling down, Wulfe packing up his cards, when Amieko brought in the most amount of dishes I had ever seen. I hadn't been to a royal feast since I was very young, but I definitely felt like I was back there. Roast pork, pork stew, choice cuts of ham with rings of an exotic fruit, ham hocks served with beans, there were so many whole meals there, but I had no doubts about people stuffing themselves full tonight.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, the feast you've all been no doubt smelling for the last several hours!" People laughed and cheered, people laughed harder when Callidus' stomach imitated the mating call of the wild moose, I just eyed him nervously, wondering just how much that bottomless pit of a stomach would consume tonight. "I would like to propose a toast!" Amieko stood up onto the bar and hoisted a tankard of ale, "To the brave men and woman who have now not only saved our fair town, but have brought the pig that made this feast possible! I proclaim this meal free to my fair patrons!" With a hearty shout of "cheers!", the patrons of the bar all began to line up to get their food.

It was as delicious as I had hoped it would be. I pat my stomach, looking at the empty plate, wondering if I should go get another when an vaguely familiar person sat down at the only open seat at our table.

I recognized her from the meeting in the mayor's house, an elven woman with blond hair tied up into an elaborate top knot, feathers pushed through her hair in the back. Her ears were odd, even for an elf. While still long and pointed, there was just something...off about them when compared to either of our elven companions.

"Hey gang, the Sheriff didn't get a chance to introduce me yesterday so I figured I'd do it myself before I get outta town. My names Shalelu. You can say I'm kinda the warden of this area. I'm in charge of keeping track of the beasties out there and reporting back to Hemlock every so often. I have no clue how those bastard goblins snuck under my radar, but it sure was a surprise to get a message from Zantus about the raid." She chuckled and reclined in her chair, "Nice work by the way. Heard you guys helped save a lot of lives. But unfortunately, I'm not here for a meet and greet. I wanted to give you guys a general lay of the land, since it seems you guys are sticking around for a little while."

She brought out a map of the nearby area and began pointing at and describing different locales and points of interest. We were just wrapping up on the map when I realized this could be a vital source of information.

"Shalelu, you said you keep track of the monsters in the area, you wouldn't happen to know a lot about goblins would you?" She gave an almost feral grin.

"Know anything about goblins? I've spent most of my time out there keeping them from causing trouble. There are five fucking tribes of the little bastards in the hinterlands alone, and just recently a couple of them burned a farm to the ground." Severine let out a tiny gasp, and blushed when people noticed, "Don't worry, I got the family out, but their farm is long gone."

"Any information you would be willing to part with would help us prevent these creatures from perverting nature's beauty wherever they should attempt it." It was odd hearing Feanor taking initiative, in the short time I've known him, he struck me as a very passive man.

"Well," She began, drawing a hunting knife and playing with it idly, "like I said before, there are five tribes in the area; the Birdcruncher tribe is the closest, they're shacked up along the western edge of the Devil's Platter, just east of here. Then you've got your Licktoad goblins to the south in the Brinestump Marsh, they're insanely good swimmers, but that's irrelevant. East of us are the Seven Tooth goblins in the Shank's Wood, they've been raiding Sandpoint's junkyard and garbage pile for years, and it shows, they're probably the best equipped of the tribes. Further east of the Seven Tooth, are the Mosswood goblins, those are the ones that set fire to that farm I was telling you about. They're the largest of all the tribes, but they've never been organized in the slightest, they get too drawn up in their feuding families within their own ranks to turn their attention anywhere else. That's what confuses me about all this, those were the least aggressive tribe originally, but something's changed." She scowled and Vex coughed lightly.

"Do you know which tribe was responsible for the raid?" Shalelu laughed lightly, a noise that seemed to attract Feanor's undivided attention.

"That's just the thing! No one tribe was responsible because goblins of every tribe were there! None of the goblin tribes are smart enough to come up with a plan where they cast blame on all the tribes should they fail like this. So either the goblins are all working together, or there is someone a lot smarter than them."

"Or both." I interjected.

"Or both." She acquiesced.

"Forgive me Shalelu," Feanor spoke up again, drawing a confused look from his brother, "you said there are five goblin tribes, you only told us of four." Shalelu chuckled again.

"Ah, yes, I got distracted. Located on the Nettlewood coast, on stop of a small island are the Thistletop goblins. Rumors say their island bears a passing resemblance to a decapitated head. Not that anyone in their right minds have actually seen the damn thing, the Nettlewood is a mess of briars and tangles, it's a challenge even for accomplished woodsmen like myself. Not to mention the goblins themselves are typically very protective of their homes." I nodded to show that I had heard her.

"So, currently all we have is that the goblins are uniting under one ruler of sorts. That's it. Until we find out wherever the hell these damn things are based at, the best we can do is prepare the town before another raid pops through. Do you have any idea who could be leading these goblins?" Shalelu scratched her cheek in thought.

"Well...typically if a goblin lives a long enough life and achieve some measure of notoriety they become a "Goblin Hero". Usually the position is well earned, for a goblin." I rubbed my chin in thought.

"Are there a lot of these "heroes" in the area? Any that could be responsible for this raid?" Shalelu started counting off on her fingers.

"Well, there's Big Gugmut of Mosswood. The goblins say his mother was a hobgoblin and his father was a wild boar, I think that partially correct. I'm sure he's half-hobgoblin. Koruvus was a champion of the Seven Tooth tribe, well remembered for his short temper (even for a goblin), and his most prized possession-a magic longsword sized for a human that the goblin stubbornly kept as his own. He vanished several months ago after he apparently found a 'secret hideout'. No one's seen him since. There's a goblin in the Brinestump Marsh who's become a hero to the goblins of tribes other than the Licktoads, as she's a cannibal. She frequently captures and devours any Licktoad goblins brave-or stupid-enough to leave the tribe alone. The chief of the Licktoads is also a Hero, he's a morbidly obese, arrogant son of a bitch who is said to never leave his throne." I heard Callidus snicker, but then again he was currently downing his thirtieth ale, so I wouldn't doubt if everything was funny to him.

"Ripnugget is the leader of the Thistletop goblins," Shalelu continued, "famous because he tamed a giant gecko and turned into his damn steed. Make no mistake, he's skilled at mounted combat, and he's somehow smart enough to use the gecko's abilities to supplement his fighting strategy. Then you've got the triplets; three goblin siblings that have been kicked out of almost every tribe to date. Grensh, the oldest (by a full minute) is the biggest of the brothers, he's typically seen fighting on the back of an animal that can support his weight, what makes him special is he can't stand the goblin dogs most goblins ride, so he usually goes out and beats a wolf into submission before making that his noble steed. Blaf-taff is the middle son, and a deadshot with a bow. He could give your own sharpshooter a run for his money." Wulfe scoffed but seemed oddly heeding of the unspoken warning. "Then there's the youngest, most of their original tribe thought he should've died in the womb as he's nearly half the size of the average goblin, frail and sickly, Bob makes up for his ailments by being one of the most promising goblin sorcerers I've ever heard of in this area."

"So their names are Grensh, Blaf-taff...and Bob?" I asked incredulously. Shalelu shrugged.

"Their mother wasn't going to name him when she tried to drown him, but his head just kept bobbing him back up to the surface, hence the name Bob. There's one more Hero though." She folded her hands together and an angry fire seemed to light in her eyes. "Bruthazmus. A bugbear ranger who lives in the northern Nettlewood, he trades with the different villages for alcohol, news, or magic arrows. Usually using loot he's taken from the caravans he's ransacked. Bruthazmus has an acute hatred of elves however," She gestured at Feanor and Wulfe, and then pointed at her own ears, "takes a sick pleasure in bringing harm to them, especially if they fight back. We've fought several times, damn bastard killed the man who taught me. If you ever run across Bruthazmus, do me a favor." This time her grin was definitely feral. "Stick him with as many arrows you can. Make him squeal like the pig he is before he dies." We were silent for a moment before I cleared my throat.

"Is there anything else you can-" I was interrupted by the sound of a hysterical woman barging into the tavern. She had a babe in one arm and a toddler held close to her leg. She was frantically searching the room, eyes wide, tears openly streaming down her face. She let out a pained sob when she saw us, and practically collapsed on our table. We all stood up in alarm.

"Please milords, and milady! You have to help me, its my husband!" I shot a look at Vex, if this was some kind of domestic abuse, it would do to have some backup. "My son, Aeren, kept saying he had a goblin in his closet last night. The poor dear saw a goblin light a cat on fire and dance around the dead animal during the raid, so my husband just assumed he was seeing things, he even checked the closet and found nothing!" I nodded thoughtfully.

"What seems to be the problem then mam?" I did my best to try and calm her down, but I just seemed to make her sob louder.

"We heard Aeren shouting about a goblin, but my Alergast said that he needed to learn to face his fears, but just a few moments later, we heard Petal, the family dog, cry out in pain and Aeren's screams turned shrill! We burst into his room and we found...a goblin! There was a goblin crouched on my son's chest! Petal was dead, the thing had shoved a knife in his ear! It was trying to eat my son!" She showed us the boy's arms, which were covered in red bite marks, some bleeding. Severine tapped me on the shoulder.

"You guys go and help the husband, I'll stay here and try to calm everyone down." I opened my mouth to ask if she was sure but she interrupted me, "Trust me Daerion, my quarterstaff would just get in the way inside of a small building. Besides, this is kind of my job, healing and looking after people." She gave me a confident smile and I nodded, turning to Callidus.

"Callidus, you stay as well. Try to make the kid laugh." Callidus protested, stamping his foot like a child and taking a swig of his ale. I groaned, there had to be something to convince him. "Callidus…"An idea popped into my head, "that kid is in desperate need of a hero, can you be that hero?" Callidus' eyes went wide, a glint entering them. Slamming the tankard on the table, he lept out of his chair and started excitedly talking to Aeren, slowly drawing the boy out of his fearful shell. I turned to the rest of our number. "Alright, mam, could you give us direction to your house?" She did so quickly and in a concise manner. "Let's go men!" We burst out of the tavern and ran south, towards the Barett household.

We had a civilian to save.

* * *

Entering the small house one thing immediately leapt out at me; it was quiet. Very, very quiet. I felt a lump form in my stomach, the silence alone alerted me to the fate of poor Alergast. We crept through the house, Feanor being the first to draw his scythe, and the rest of us drawing our own weapons. As we moved deeper into the building, I heard an odd sound, a cursory glance at my companions reveal that they too were hearing it; a sick crunching sound. We walked into the room that Mrs. Barett had said belonged to her son.

There was a man laying on the ground in front of the closet, his head and arms inside of the small structure. Collapsed at the foot of a child's bed was a small terrier, dagger in its ear, fresh blood still pooled beneath it. I nudged the man's leg and, judging from the utter lack of response, concluded he was dead. I look at Feanor and jerked my head towards the man and the closet, he nodded, understanding what I wanted.

We had all noticed that the crunching sound was coming from the closet, so Vex and Wulfe were prepared and Feanor and I grabbed Alergast's legs, ready to pull the dead man away from the goblin. Counting to three on my fingers, Feanor and I pulled and immediately felt resistance from the man's head, we pulled hard and it was not difficult to break the goblins grip.

The creature must have been absolutely ravenous, because in about the hour between Alergast rushing into Aeren's room and us arriving to attempt to save him, the goblin had devoured the man's entire face. Muscle and ligaments were easily seen where skin had been scraped and scratched off, and some areas were completely picked clean, showing the pearly white of the skull where the goblin had completely devoured everything. There was an open cut on the man's throat, still dribbling blood. At least he hadn't been eaten to death. Feanor and I set the man's legs down and took position by the closet as we heard the sounds of a completely mad goblin raving and babbling at is sudden loss of food. I tightened my grip on my bastard sword, we were going to make this bitch pay.

With little warning, the green creature leapt out of the hole it had dug in the bottom of the closet, but we were ready for it. Feanor slashed first, with speed far greater than anything I had seen from him, an angry roar tearing its way from his throat and his face contorted in a rictus of fury. He scythe cut clean through both sides of the closet, and bisected the goblin right at the hip. Blood trailed behind the farmer's tool-turned deadly weapon like ribbons. I acted immediately after Feanor cleaved through the goblins hip, feeling my sword succeed at removing the goblin's head from his shoulders. A dull thunk and wet squelch signaled the head being pinned to the back of the closet by two bolts fired rapidly, both finding their homes in the goblin's eyes. Vex simply grasped his longsword with both hands and cleaved straight down, turning the goblins torso into two different parts. It wasn't until I felt my throat was sore that I realized I had been roaring like Feanor had.

"We...need to be faster." I said, panting, my teeth clenched. "We could have saved this man if we were fast!" I yelled at nobody in particular.

"Daerion, my friend, there was nothing we could have done." Feanor gently set a hand on my shoulder. "But we can still bring the man's body to his wife, so he may have a proper burial." I nodded and helped wrap the man up in sheets. I picked him up and we walked back to the Rusty Dragon in solemn silence.

Mrs. Barett and her children did not stay long after we returned with her husbands body. Father Zantus was there and he led the family towards the cathedral after the woman let out a heartbreaking sob and tried to hug the corpse I had in my arms. Zantus took the body from me and looked my right in the eyes.

"This is not your fault young knight. You did all you could my son. Do not torture yourself." I clenched my fists and looked away. Zantus left without another word. Shalelu quietly said that Hemlock left early this morning to get more guards from Magnimar in case of another goblin attack, and that the town likely wouldn't have a funeral until he came home; Hemlock and Alergast had been friends since they were children. She walked off towards the door until Feanor grabbed her by the arm and gently led her to a vacant table and started quietly discussing something with her. Callidus passed out not long after Aeren left, but I just didn't feel up to dropping him into the horse trough tonight. So I just went off to bed.

* * *

I had hoped that come morning, I could enjoy a day free of any significant events so I could relax, but when Bethana, the elderly halfling maid of the Rusty Dragon came up to us during our breakfast meal (surprisingly, everyone was present), I just knew in my heart that it wasn't for good news.

"Oh I'm so glad I caught all of you!" She said, obviously distraught. She looked around and decided that this was a good enough locale to have a conversation. "I woke up this mornin' an' was surprised to see that Amieko hadn' started breakfast yet. I was worried, so I knocked on her door and got no answer! Against my betta judgement, I barged on into her room and found that she wasn' there! She hadn' even slept in her bed! I found this note and well...I think Amieko's in trouble." She set a note on the table, it was written in some language that apparently none of us recognized, she seemed to notice this. "Oh don' worry, I wen' ahead and translated it all in common, it's on the otha side." I reached for the note but Wulfe grabbed it before I could, his hand snapping out quickly. Clearing his throat, he read it aloud in a theatrical manner.

"Hello Sister! I hope this letter finds you well, and with some free time on your hands, because we've got something of a problem. It's to do with father-I think that's the crazy dude that burst in two nights ago and yelled at her." Wulfe mentioned before going back to reading aloud, "Seems, that he might have had something to do with Sandpoint's recent troubles with the goblins-rat bastard-and I didn't want to bring the matter to the authorities because we both know he'd just weasel his way out of it. You've got some pull here in town, though. If you can meet me at the glassworks at midnight tonight, maybe we can figure out how to make sure he faces the punishment he deserves. Knock twice and then, three times more and then once more at the delivery entrance and I'll let you in." Wulfe chuckled and shook his head, "That's one elaborate passcode." He began to read again.

"In any case, I don't have to impress upon you the delicate nature of this request. If news got out, you know these local rubes would assume that you and I were in on the whole thing too, don't you-that sounds a shit ton like blackmail to me-? They've got no honor at all around these parts. I still don't understand how you can stand to stay here. Anyway, don't tell anyone about this. There are other complications as well, ones I'd rather talk to you in person about tonight. Don't be late." He narrowed his eyes at the note and looked at us, "Well that sounds sketchy as hell." Most of us nodded in agreement. "It's signed someone named Tsuto."

"Tsuto is Amieko's half-brother," Bethana explained, "He was quite the scandal when he was born back in 4688, a year before Amieko. Ya see, he's a half-elf, and neither of Ameiko's parents are elves. Despite the bad blood between Lonjiku, his wife, and her bastard, Amieko still had a very good relationship with her brother, that all changed though about six years ago...they had a really bad argument and in the end Tsuto slapped her! That jump-started her life as an Adventurer again, she didn't come back until her mother's funeral a year later. Tsuto said some things to Lonjiku that ended with Lonjiku trying to break his jaw and he hasn't been back to town since." The halfling rubbed her hands nervously and looked around more, "I'm scared he's up to no good, since Hemlock is out of town you guys are the only ones I can turn too. Amieko went to meet her brother, that's all I can conclude, and she hasn' come back. Please make sure she's safe!" We all exchanged nods and stood up, grabbing our gear and making our way to the door, someone was in trouble again.

This time we would be fast enough.

 **A/N: Man, all it takes is about a year and some change to make a chapter two! I worked very hard on this chapter and wanted it to be perfect by the time it came out...well perfect seemed to be something I felt was unattainable for about a year because frankly, I just gave up on this. But my muse returned and thus, she lives! Please, any feedback you guys have, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated! Any comments, questions and concerns will be answered in the next chapter, which will come out way sooner than this one did. I promise!**


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